The city's summer always smells like perfume...

The Honorary Title is a band that I have been rooting for since the first time I saw them live three years ago. Then comprised of only two guys, they gave off a hipster vibe that already said they knew they were too cool to be opening for Switchfoot. (I still don’t understand how that tour happened...?) Anyway, now on tour with Cartel, they have moved up to five members and have remained awesome.

I remember the first time I saw the Honorary Title I was blown away much more by their performance than by the headlining band’s. The lead singer has a stage presence that can’t be taught; the original two members played a brand of rock and roll that I thought died twenty years ago. Seeing them again was amazing– I have followed their progress through the years, and their newest album, Scream and Light Up The Sky remains as retro-rocking as ever. Their sound is hipster, retro rock and roll that sounds like you should probably only listen to it live or on vinyl. And the best part? They know they’re going somewhere, and they don’t care whether the teenybopper pre-hipster Cartel-listening Atlanta crowd is likes them or not. The lead singer wore the same unisex sideswept haircut as me, with a Boy Scout uniform shirt I only wish I was thin enough to wear, but what made their set so amazing was his running commentary between songs– he knows the crowd he is playing to, he knows they aren’t the kind that he wants to be listening to their music, and he knows that they won’t understand the jokes he tells at all. I exempt myself from those generalizations only because I was there more to see his band than Cartel and because I had a wristband around my arm signifying that not only was I old enough to have driven myself there, but also I was holding a beer in my hand, proving my cool level.

Just enough asshole to be a real rock star, just enough sensitive to write amazing lyrics, just enough style to be a real hipster, these guys are on their way.

Song of choice: Along the Way.

~The Honorary Blair

I know you're better than that

Dear Travis Barker,
I’m sorry, but you have been bumped from your previous position as my favorite drummer of all time by Chris Kamrada.
Yes, I know, it must come as a crushing blow to be knocked out of the running by a guy almost half your age and completely devoid of tattoos, but it’s true. Why? Because, Travis, I never saw you lick a drumstick.

Sincerely,
Blair

There For Tomorrow is a band made to be seen. I’ve been listening to them since May, and they are one of the few bands I’ve ever encountered where, upon one listen to any of their songs, I was hooked. And not hooked as in "I like that..." but hooked like spending the rest of the day muttering "when we turn these PA-GES!" under my breath. The Orlando-based quartet is all younger than me (quite a feat considering the majority of this year’s Warped Tour graduated high school the same year I did), but they’ve got what it takes to make it big: catchy hooks, addictive sampling, wicked stage presence, and perhaps most appealing for the mostly-high school age crowd at the show I caught, they’re all gorgeous.

What goes around comes around, I guess, right? We had the beautiful boys of the late 90's (Backstreet Boys and their ilk), the ridiculously unattractive men of the early millennium (Matchbox Twenty, anyone?), the emo bands with just enough ugliness to be credible (Fall Out Boy, Escape the Fate, and all the others with only one remotely handsome guy) and now, perhaps There For Tomorrow is bringing us full circle and back to the gorgeousness of yesteryear.

Anyway, how are these guys not signed? Never mind, I know how they are not signed, but the question that remains is: how long is it going to be before the entire audience of Friday night’s show is bragging to all their friends about how they were there "when There For Tomorrow played in a church youth group hall for free!"

I remember discussing the merits of There For Tomorrow with my boss this summer, and he said "what makes this band really good is that, even though they are so young, they are so in control. Especially the drums... they don’t let the music take over, they own it all." At the time I thought he was right, but it wasn’t until I saw the band play live that I realized that what makes this band really good is... well, the drummer. They’re a strong band, but as an avid concert watcher, I can tell you this– it’s hard to be a good enough drummer that you attract the attention of anyone in the audience who doesn’t happen to play drums. My eye usually never strays farther past the lead singer than the bassist, but over and over during Friday’s set I found myself entranced by the drummer’s antics instead of the lead singer, who was great but much less exciting than a drumstick-licking shaggy-haired nineteen-year-old beating the crap out of his sparkly drums.

So give it a year, folks. They’ve gotta get signed. And write some new stuff. And then record it and release it. But once they are touring the nation? They’ll be a household name and I’ll be the one saying I told you so.

Choice song: Taking Chances from the Pages EP.

Here for today,
B