Paraiso Shares Their Thoughts on the Broken Records Festival

What was the experience of playing the BRM Music Festival like?
The Broken Records Festival was a chance to get all of the seasoned Staten Island acts together in one place. As far as Paraiso goes, we haven’t been around for very long, so we were very grateful to have been asked to play with bands that had many more shows behind them, as well as fans. With the exceptional turnout of that night, it was hard to not feel the energy of the crowd and performers..and sweat. It made Killmeyer’s, a familiar venue, feel like the first time we played there. All the acts played together with a superb unity and there was no sense of any bad vibes, which tends to happen very easily, being how split music scenes can get. The event was really just a celebration of music, and we feel we did our part well. It was definitely one of the best shows we’ve ever played together as a group.

What would you like to see the festival grow to?
The growth of the festival really has nothing to do with us, or any of the bands involved. It’s about the fans, so really, the people to ask would be them, and our only duty as a band is to recruit more of them! Of course we would love to see the festival grow to something gigantic, but maybe that’s not what we need right now. I think that eight dollars to sweat it out with a crowd full of musicians is more than any of us, or any fan, could ever want. And of course a couple of beers help too. We shouldn’t worry about the 10,000 crowd venues, keeping the event small is the only way of insuring it stays with the local bands, rather, we should increase the prestige of the event, and make the local scene an icon for great music. Have different bands try out every year, but make sure every band has an equal chance for a spot on the bill.

Where does the name Paraiso come from?
"Paraiso” of course means “paradise,” in Spanish. Paraiso, for us, is an actual place, that was then used as the band name, but the meaning has extended from that to something greater. It is often in a saddened state that we, as humans, dream about paradise. We all have certainly been there, but one person’s idea of paradise could mean something completely different from another person’s idea. We want to simply extend that feeling of joy which comes from thinking about paradise from us, to the listener, because to us, music is the only “self help” we’ve ever known.

How did the band form?
Ricky started playing guitar seriously during high school, and began a solo blues/reggae acoustic act. He played shows around the island and would occasionally borrow members from his high school friend Pete’s band, West of Dennis, for larger shows. Ricky soon realized that this was not the direction he wanted his music to go in, nor was it loud enough to upset the neighbors, so he began searching for a full-time band. Peter was still playing guitar and singing in West of Dennis, but knew that with college coming, and none of his bandmates around, he needed to find a new musical something to keep occupied. Unfortunately, Peter’s skills on the guitar were no match for Ricky’s self-taught guitar wankery, but he had always had a desire to play drums. And being that Ricky didn’t know the difference between a “paradiddle” and “a pair of diddles” he was in. Now as much as Rick and Pete liked the Black Keys, they knew that they were going to need a bassist. Luckily for them, a local show booker told them that he knew a bassist that needed a band. This bassist was none other than Mike, who turned out to live but a block away from where Pete grew up. And I, the all knowing narrator, have always been here..living under your bed at night, where you can’t see me.

What message would Paraiso like to convey if any?
We really have no agendas as a band other than trying to spread our music to as many people as we can, no matter what hardships we may face. There’s a lot of people out there who need an emotional lift, or even a friendly face, and we want to help them find their Paraiso.

Interview by Paul Marino

Check out the album review I did on Paraiso

Radioactive Material Interview (Broken Records Festival)

 What was the experience of playing the concert like?
It's always awesome to play with a bunch of friends and familiar faces, but it's also great to play with new bands and meet new people. The fact that this show was so diverse was also a nice change of pace.

How do you feel about Broken Records Magazine, and why is a united Staten Island important?
It's pretty cool to see a magazine that promotes local bands like us along with more well known bands. Well, as Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself can't stand."

What would you like to see the festival grow to?
We would be stoked to see the festival become an annual event and grow to a point where venues like Killmeyer's and Dock Street wouldn't be able to host it.

What does Radioactive Material stand for?
It stands for giving off energy and sub-atomic particles. There are usually four types: alpha, beta, gamma and neutrons, but we're a new a found strain known as bamfs.

What is your hope for punk rock in today's music scene?
Our hope is that it could flourish as it used to in the old days when punk was a bit more accepted.

Who are some of your influences, and what makes you unique from those?
We all listen to a variety of music which makes our sound unique because we try and make our songs more uplifing and positive than any of our influences, some of which are the Ramones, Sum 41 and Blink-182.

Are you guys going to be working on an EP or album?
Our EP is actually already recorded and once the rest of our merch is made, we will have an official release show.

What are some of the long term plans for the band?
As far as the road can take us, and we mean that literally. We can't wait to go on tour.


What's one of the biggest problems faced when being in a band and why is it worth it to overcome them?
A bit** named Hurricane Sandy and we'll overcome this cause playing music is our dream. We want to get back on our feet asap.

Anything else to add?
Just thanks for letting us be a part of this and check us out on Facebook -  http://facebook.com/RadioactiveMaterial and you can listen to our music on soundcloud - http://soundcloud.com/radioactivematerial

Backslashes & Bad Ideas (Broken Records Music Festival Interview)

Interview by Gerard Ucelli

What was the experience of playing the BRM concert like?
We all really enjoyed playing the BRM concert last month. It was well organized, had a good turnout, and was a great chance for us branch out and play for a different crowd we don't always get to see. Playing with a band like Major League in our hometown was a great experience. The Optimators from the beer garden helped a bit too.

How do you feel about Broken Records Magazine, and why is a united Staten Island important?
BRM is a good outlet to help expose new, upcoming talent and helps everyone keep tabs on old favorites. Our music scene needs unity more than anything else. It's the only way we can all grow, improve and gain a fan base outside of our friends and family. It's great to see BRM put on a concert where artists of all walks of life can get together over two days and perform. Also after an event like Hurricane Sandy it was amazing to see countless people get together and help each other. Hopefully that spirit can continue an bring people together in the future.

What do you stand for as an artist?
As artists we stand because there are no chairs on stage.

I notice you use memes to your advantage on a constant basis. Do you think memes can be a new way in social media to promote yourself?
We feel like they reflect our personality perfectly. We don't do it for marketing purposes as much as we do it because we all love to laugh. The purpose of music is for enjoyment and to make people smile. We feel like many people in the industry take themselves and their music too seriously. We're all very dedicated but we understand how to be humble and laugh at ourselves among other things As much as we want people to go to our page to listen to our music, we also want people to see a lighter side to things and learn to laugh along with us through everything.

What is pop-punk to you and why do you do it?
We do the "pop punk" because Josh isn't hardcore enough. The thought of a breakdown gives him indigestion.

Tell us about your recent release, Nothing Left To Give.
Nothing Left To Give is our debut release from August 4th of this year. It's a five song, self-released EP, that we spent the better part of the last two years writing while playing shows. It's a culmination of work as recent as the week we went into the studio, dating all the way back to 2008 when Nick DePalo, Ricky, and Nick Colella were in Cobalt Sky. We were very fortunate to work with Joe Dell'aquila at Exeter Recordings in New Jersey. He helped us mold and finalize many of the ideas we had for the record and executed them far better than we could anticipate. I don't think we could have been any happier with the way the record came out. As far as for the future, we recently added our good friend Ricky Abolt on guitar and have some shows booked for this winter. We were originally expecting to tour this month, but some difficulties with the other bands involved forced the tour to be canceled. We are hoping to tour sometime in the spring with the help of our friends in Persistent Heart Media.

If you had to create the Avengers of music, who's on your team in addition to yourself?

Theoretically if we had to create an Avengers team we would have to start with Josh as Iron Man. That's pretty much a no brainier for us because Josh and Robert Downey Jr. are both serious tools. Rick is the dude with the bow and arrow. Nick Colella is gonna have to be Thor for very obviously reasons. Nick DePalo is Captain America, because Captain Canada doesn't exist. Ed is definitely the hulk. And our friend Joe Dell'aquila would be Samuel L Jackson.

Check out their album review on TheSIBandGuy

Nothing Left to Give for download

Friday's Nightmare Interview with Todd Stein for BRM Festival

By Paul Marino

What was the experience of playing the concert like?
Playing the fest was pretty fun. It was interesting to have these elements of a bigger, festival-style show (like having pictures taken of us both playing and just hanging out, or even doing this interview related to it) but at the same time, it had the feel of a normal local show because we were at Killmeyer's. We knew the people in the other bands and we knew a lot of the people in the crowd too. That said, it was also cool to look out and see that there were some new faces there. Plus, chicken fingers and onion rings from Killmeyer's. So all in all, it was a good day.

How do you feel about Broken Records Magazine, and why is united Staten Island music important?
The idea of something like Broken Records Magazine is cool because it covers such a wide spectrum in terms of the artists they cover, so it offers readers with chances to be exposed to new music they probably wouldn't hear otherwise while also being able to catch up on the bands they like. Someone looking at the magazine or website will see, like, Phillip Phillips or Comeback Kid (just those two alone give it the feel of having something for everyone), but then they'll find local bands like us or even national-level bands they might not know (like in my case, I had no clue who the Royal Guard were until I saw the interview). The local/unknown band aspect is especially helpful for bands from Staten Island because it provides us with a new way to be exposed to a larger audience. In a lot of ways, Staten Island really is an insulated community where everyone knows each other, which is especially evident in the music scene. It's very difficult to break out from the island and be able to get attention in new places like Manhattan, Brooklyn or New Jersey because people who are not part of our scene usually don't find out about the music being made here, so it's hard to be able to go to these new areas and draw people out.

In shorter words, bands need a fan-base, not just where they're based but in other places, and being able to appear in any sort of publication is a great start, but the fact that it's one that people may already go to explore music familiar to them is even more helpful, because then we have the chance to catch their eye as they're reading about an artist they like and be listened to. The fact that we are so insulated and have these struggles to be known is why a united Staten Island music scene is important. In some ways, all we really have is each other. Although recently we've been getting nationally-known punk bands to show up and play here, for the most part we play to each other. Getting bands with more recognition is difficult because Staten Island is really a hassle to get to for many people. Why would a well-known indie band want to play here over Brooklyn and Manhattan, if they know that fans based in those boroughs wouldn't be willing to deal with traveling here in order to see them (save for the most rabid ones), or if they don't think they have many fans here? So since many of our shows are going to consist of us playing our local spots with fellow bands who we often share the stage with, why wouldn't we want to unite, and help each other out, and support each other? It would only yield positive results. Establishing a united community would mean more people coming to shows (not even just in support of a friend's band, but because there's an actual show going on), more growth musically (an audience is necessary for that because you can find out what they enjoy about you and what you might need to change in your songs), more growth in terms of a fan base, more chance of then being able to have that community with you when playing elsewhere, more chances to break out, and more chances to draw attention to Staten Island and the music being created there, which means more exposure for the bands starting here that desperately need it.

What would you like to see the festival grow to?
Some giant event that takes place each year that people want to travel from elsewhere to check out. If it becomes a new Bamboozle or Orion Fest or something that'd be amazing, especially if it has a really mixed lineup with people of all genres of music, and big national acts playing it that people would be willing to drive or fly out here to see. Plus, it would be great if local bands were interspersed with these bigger acts - rather than relegated to some side-stage that no one checks out - because it helps them expose their music to a new audience.

So far, what has been the bands mutual favorite on-stage moment?
That's a pretty tough one. Playing the Studio at Webster Hall was a big day for us; getting to be on the stage where I saw the Smoking Popes play once, the fact that Green Day had just played there a couple of weeks before us, Figurehead being on the bill, being able to play for our friends and a whole bunch of new people who had never heard of us before, hanging out with the other bands backstage, the show itself, all of it was a blast. A close contender is the time that Figurehead and I think members (or just Damian) from Four Nights Gone all jumped out and started dancing and skipping onstage while we were playing at Staten Island Tech. One of those two works.


How does the song writing process usually go for Friday's Nightmare?
Our "usual" has been really unusual as of late. The way the band started was the Ilya would present the songs and then we'd tighten up parts, make suggestions or change a thing or two, and play through them. Recently, the song writing process is very collaborative and we all build off each others ideas and tastes. We all listen to different things and then try to combine all of the things we like into each song. The process is more like this now: Zim, Ilya or I has a basic idea - like a riff or a beat or something - and plays it for everyone else (or more accurately, writes it into guitar pro so that we have sheet music/tabs/a bad 80's Nintendo game-sounding version of the idea). Then, we all work together figuring out places for the song to go, parts to throw in, what type of melody it could have, etc. These suggestions are based both in what we like and how we feel we could incorporate that but still make it sound like a "Friday's Nightmare-style" song. Ilya plays a prominent role in refining our ideas because he's the only member that really understands music theory, so he can take our riffs and apply his knowledge to them, either by adhering to rules of theory or (as we especially try to push for) knowing good ways to break them. This collaborative approach is in everything lately; it's even how we've been coming up with our lyrics. Recently we added Rob as a second guitarist so this process is going to get even crazier, because now we have a fourth guy who can be involved in creating our songs and bringing in his own tastes in terms of music, plus now we don't have to find ways to make our ideas work with just one guitar, bass, drums and sometimes glockenspiel. So this will get interesting to say the least.


http://www.facebook.com/frinightmare

Vinny Jett Interview for Broken Records Festival

What was the experience of playing the BRM concert like?
The BRM concert brought a new energy to the Staten Island music scene. A vision definitely came to life that night and the turnout out did our expectations. I truly enjoyed the company of Mac Lethal and some of the other talented acts including the BRC, Wordspit, and Freestyle Fam. It's something that BRM should do every year, or maybe even more often than that.

How do you feel about Broken Records Magazine, and why is a united Staten Island important?
Broken Records Magazine is impressive. They have a great range of coverage from the most underground artists to the most mainstream.

A united Staten Island is really important because it has been the opposite of that for so long. This place, along with the rest of NYC is like crabs in a bucket with everyone knocking each other down so the other can't get ahead. If we all lifted the talented artists up and supported each other, this place, especially Staten Island would become a powerful music scene packed with a rich history that includes the Wu Tang Clan. We'd be unstoppable, but until people start supporting their local talent more, we are going to have to market ourselves elsewhere in order to make some noise.

What would you like to see the festival grow to?
I would like the BRM festival to grow to something that people come from other states to attend. Something like Rock the Bells or Ozfest. I would also like to see it expand to other places, but ultimately stay grounded in Staten Island. It would also be awesome to see it in something like Staten Island Yankees stadium. That would be incredible!

What do you stand for as an artist?
As an artist, I stand for originality and quality. I don't want to sound like anyone else or do what anyone else is doing. I also aim to stay true to myself and my values in all of the records that I make. I am extremely hard on myself when it comes to recording and performing and I always strive to do my best. I also do not want to be categorized into a genre. I feel that the music I make is unique, and sometimes people don't get it, but that actually excites me because it shows that I'm creating the type of art that is in a league of its own.

What is hip-hop to you and why do you do it?
Hip-hop is so many things to me. It's one of the greatest art forms because of its potential. Between rappers telling vivid stories in their rhymes, and graffiti artists painting murals like 2pac's "Live by the Gun," it's a form of expression whose possibilities are endless. Producers sampling and creating amazing beats, and DJs spinning during parties that end up becoming some of our fondest memories. Hip-hop, every aspect of it matters to me. It's not just about rapping even though I love battling, freestyle, and song writing. It's history is also so interesting. It never died, and will live on in my heart from now until infinity.

How do you feel hip-hop is represented by today's artists?
I don't think hip-hop music is represented, but rather people are represented in hip-hop. We live in an instant gratification culture so many rapper's lyrics are full of tales of drug use, sex and partying and their motive is to get rich so they kind of play it safe in terms of content. That speaks for a majority of the mainstream. But then you have guys like Kendrick Lamar, and J.Cole who are taking more risks and bring a more creative and original edge to the artform. Kendrick's,  Section 80, and good kid m.A.A.d city are two of the most original and awesome albums I've heard since Get Rich or Die Trying. But I love it all man, from the strip club rappers like Juicy J, to the Christian rappers like Lecrae. However, Kendrick has impressed me the most out of the new artists.

Do you believe hip-hop is more cultural (way of life) or is it more fiction through music?
Hip-hop is a way of life.... At least for me it is. Some people dabble in hip-hop, while others live it out in all aspects of their life. I love hip-hop, and everytime I think I stop loving it, a new artist gives me a reason to begin loving it again.

Tell us about your new album Return of the Jett SINY?
Return of the Jett, SINY is a sequel to my first album that was released in 2007 (Words From the Sky). It takes place after I basically self destruct at the end of the first record. The SINY is an acronym for (Surviving in New York) and that's basically what I talk about on it. How I survived through a tough time in my life living in NYC when jobs are scarce, and people let you down everyday. I get a lot more personal than my first record and the production was mainly done by my good friend Tom Levoyer. It's a cohesive project and tells a story if you listen track by track. I think its better than my first, but I still think my first album was dope! The album also reflects my spiritual transformation as I became more entrenched in following Christ.

What is in the future for Vinny Jett as an artist?
The future for Vinny Jett is the top. And the top for me is to serve God, love people, and provide them with a quality product. I'm open to wherever that takes me. I want to be a blessing in people's lives and I want my music to touch their hearts and souls.

If you had to create the Avengers of rap, who's on your team in addition to yourself? Include one producer.
Avengers of rap. That's a great question. The leader would have to be 2pac and his right hand man would be Eminem. You need Jay-Z in there along with Dr. Dre. For a female, I'd say throw Lauryn Hill in there and maybe someone heavy with the lyrics like Big Pun for a Hulk-type figure.

Anything else to add?
Yeah, love God, love people and support good music. Peace!

Follow Jett on Twitter.com/VinnyJett