Artist: No Use For A Name

Song: Dumb Reminders
CD: Dumb Reminders

Song: For Fiona
CD: Keep Them Confused

Song: I Want To Be Wrong
CD: The Feel Good Record Of The Year

Links: http://www.myspace.com/nouseforaname and http://www.fatwreck.com/band/index/9

Artist: Owl
Song: No Light, Ghost in the Starlight and Waves
CD: Owl
Links: http://www.owltheband.net and http://www.myspace.com/owltheband

Owl is a rock band featuring three exceptionally talented rock musicians who have joined together to create something that is more than the sum of its individual parts. The band is a collaboration between bassist/singer Chris Wyse (The Cult), drummer Dan Dinsmore (The Clay People), and guitarist Jason Mezilis (Your Horrible Smile). Wyse and Dinsmore met growing up in New York and have now realized their dream of playing in a band together. Local Los Angeles luminary Mezilis rounds out the line-up.

Owl is the brainchild of Wyse, who wrote and produced the album. It was recorded at Matt Sorum’s DRAC Studios in Los Angeles and produced and mixed in various locations on the east and west coasts. Owl is out now on New York-based indie label Overit Records.

Currently the bassist for The Cult, Wyse has performed with an array of rock’s elite such as one-time roommate Jerry Cantrell, celebrity super group Camp Freddy, producer Bob Rock and as one-half of Ozzy Osbourne’s rhythm section alongside ex-Faith No More drummer Mike Bordin. Wyse’s skills are also on display in the documentary “Some Kind Of Monster” during his Metallica audition. Featuring his patented stand-up bass, unique and almost conjuring-like bowing style and on-stage intensity, Owl is more than just Wyse’s side project. The band is a labor of love.

“Owl is the kind of band I would want to hear,” says Wyse of the band’s blend of song craft and prog-rock musicianship. “We want to deliver and have people be emotionally moved. We try to dazzle with our chops to create a kind of fantasy world as a passage to lure you in.”

Of the band’s synergy, Dinsmore observes, “From the very first time we played together, we felt an incredible vibe.” Mezilis agrees, “The band clicked instantly. The first note we hit felt like a gunshot. It was electric.”

The album boasts an eclectic mix of sounds and themes crafted outside the norms of the traditional modern rock record format. An instrumental piece serves to bookend the songs on the album, thereby encasing the listener inside a musical journey. Mezilis explains, “This record takes you someplace special.”

Owl’s first single, “Pusher” co-written with songwriter/producer Marti Fredriksen (Aerosmith, Eminem) and “More on Drugs,” Wyse’s doom-laden, sometimes apocalyptic visions border on psychedelia, with the former’s insistence that sex can be every bit as powerful an addiction and the latter’s blast at TV ads touting legal pharmaceuticals and their long list of side effects. He rails against society’s dogmas and hypocrisies.

“Our music’s not really that dark,” says Wyse. “We’re just unveiling places you might not want to go. It’s all about the art and provoking discussion. Owl provides a platform for us to share our musical vision.”

“Waves” features Mezilis’ self-described dirt-rock guitar sound and Dinsmore’s tribal percussion with a coda that segues from muezzin-like Middle Eastern chanting and chilling screams into an all-out psychedelic rave-up, recalling Led Zeppelin at its most mystical. “Sky Rocket” is an evocative, dreamy ballad while “Violent Center” creates a truly original sound with its unorthodox compositional form and atonal, mind bending-yet-structured layered approach to 9/4 time signature. The Pink Floyd-influenced art-rock of “Ghost in the Starlight” is a beautiful, epic story about a female spirit from the 1920’s that haunted a house Wyse lived in on Wonderland Avenue, in the famed creative mecca of Laurel Canyon. “Apples” ominously recalls tales from adventures on the Sunset Strip rock scene, “Preacher Man” is a bold-faced critique of organized religion and “No Light” documents the struggle to find meaning in life.

Dinsmore states, “Owl is the culmination of everything I’ve done musically and ever wanted to do. It’s what I’ve been working towards my whole life.”

Wyse concludes, “True artists don’t wait around for the industry to tell them what they’re supposed to play. The artist has to be the hub around which everything else revolves. Owl is all about the music.”

Artist: The Weakerthans
Song: Aside
CD: Left and Leaving
Link: http://www.myspace.com/theweakerthans

Artist: 22nd Century
Songs: Apartment 509, Life In Space and Stevie Guide
CD: the twenty second century
Link: http://www.myspace.com/22ndcentury

22nd Century’s hard punching and sometimes comical style is a mixture of Ramones style power punk with a healthy dose of 1990’s grunge. Their debut CD was produced by legendary music producer John Webster (Aerosmith, Cher, The Cult) and has garnered attention, including honorable mention in Billboard’s 2009 song writing contest. The trio has stuck to playing venues on the West Coast of North America (from LA to Vancouver) but will seek to expand their reach to Europe and Asia in 2010.? ?The band is currently writing for their second album, due out in 2010, which will include remakes of Martha and the Muffins “Echo Beach” and Angel City’s “No Secrets”.

Artist: Teenage Bottlerocket
Song: Don’t Want To Go
CD: They Came From The Shadows
Link: http://www.myspace.com/teenagebottlerocket

Artist: Tsar
Song: Kathy Fong Is the Bomb
CD: Tsar
Link: http://www.myspace.com/tsar

Artist: American Heartbreak
Song: Raise Up Your Hands
CD: American Heartbreak(Rock And Roll)
Link: http://www.americanheartbreak.com/

Artist: The Fags
Song: Rockstar
CD: Light ‘em Up
Link: http://www.myspace.com/thefagsmusic

Artist: I Am The Icarus
Songs: Destination, Faster and The Secret To Living Is Dying Well
EP: I Am The Icarus

I Am The Icarus is a new project out of San Diego, CA spearheaded by songwriter Daniel Godfrey. Citing his biggest influences as being groups like Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails, Daniel set out to write his debut EP and showcase his diverse taste in alternative rock. His new self-titled release was recorded and produced by Shaun Lopez of FAR/Deftones fame and in-addition helped contribute guitars to the album. FAR drummer Chris Robyn also lent his in-studio skills, which has yielded an EP that has huge production, a modern meetings 90’s rock spirit and undeniable hooks with songs like “Miss Blue” and “The Secret To Living Is Dying Well”.

www.myspace.com/IAmTheIcarus
www.authentikartists.com

ARTIST: Big City Kids
Song: One Night Stand (single)

Big City Kids (Los Angeles , CA) have developed quite a stir in the music industry by bringing forth a unique
blend of electro-rock and creating a visual that defies your wisdom of a live band. The group consists of 4 very
young adults that have shared and experienced life on the road throughout the United States and parts of
Canada.

When asked what we should expect to see from them in the near future they replied “ well, we just finished
recording what has been exciting our fans on the internet and what not, so we will be on the road non-stop
throughout the rest of the year and we wont stop until we are forced back into the studio. But we have enough
music to keep everyone dancing for a while, so we’re just ready to party!” states BCK front man EMERSON

www.myspace.com/bcklive
www.authentikartists.com

Artist: Riverboat Gamblers
Song: A Choppy Yet Sincere Apology
CD: Underneath The Owl
Link: http://www.theriverboatgamblers.com/

Artist: Oh No Not Stereo
Song: Lets Get It Started
CD: 003
Link: http://www.ohnonotstereo.net/

Artist: That Was Something
Song: She Is The West Coast
EP: Down But Not Out
Links: http://www.myspace.com/thatwassomething

Artist: Underwhelmed
Song: Freak (Like Me)
CD: Reveal
Link: http://www.myspace.com/underwhelmednyc

PLAYLIST:
Artist: Megaphone
Song:Gravitate
CD: Exit Silent Mode
http://www.megaphonemusic.net/