Utah Concert Review

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”

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””

Interview By: Kevin Rolfe 

Note from the interviewer:

Justin is a singer songwriter from Aptos, California.  He has been performing in bands for years, but it’s only within the last decade that he’s taken to writing/ recording his own music and performing solo shows or with his band The Heavy Hand along the west coast.  I’ve known Justin for over twenty years.  These are questions and stories that I have wondered about and am now so happy to have answers to.  I hope you enjoy reading this interview as much as I had conducting it!

Utah Concert Review:  As long as I’ve known you, you’ve been involved with music, whether it be with your former band Moz Eizley, or your current band The Heavy Hand and of course your solo work as well. I guess I’ve never known where you got started with music.  I know your dad plays a little guitar and is in a band right now. Is that how you got your start?

Continue reading “UCR Interview- Justin Hambly”