Contributors

Hey guys, Welcome to another installment of “another installment of…”© (still working on the name). This is Quinn. He's the merch guy for Runner Runner and editor-in-chief for Cigar Aficionado magazine. A few weeks ago he broke his foot while climbing over high fences and he's been in a wheel chair ever since. He loves […]

  Some people like Coke and some people like Pepsi. I won’t hold it against you if you’re a Pepsi drinker. I certainly wouldn’t judge you based on your religious preference or political affiliation. However, some issues are simply black and white. Concerning gay rights, there is no middle ground. It doesn’t merit debate. It’s […]

Good Day, I'm back again with part 2 of my 17 part series entitled “Brendan Takes Pictures Of Things & Makes Up Captions/Stories To Make It Seem More Interesting Than It Actually May Or May Not Be”©. I'm still working on the title. Let me know what you think of it. Anyway, this tour is […]

  Last week, I felt a really warm welcome here for my first entry, Empathy Orgy. So many of the comments were thoughtful, kind and insightful. Today's subject is a lot smaller but it's been on my mind: Release Tension. In the time between recording a new record and releasing it, many artists find that […]

The On Your Side Tour has only just begun and we are already having a blast. The bands are great, the shows are great and you must try the Sprite®. The first day was in Poughkeepsie, NY — the birthplace of the sushi/burger fast food combo. On our way up we saw this really sweet […]

When AP first contacted me about writing a weekly blog, we were on tour with Underoath and I started writing a piece about religion and politics in music.  But I still hadn't gotten close to finishing all the interviews when my deadline was coming up. So I put that on hold and started to write […]

I thought I was being so clever. This story transpired during a much simpler time: Jonny Craig had yet to check into detox, Japan was in exactly the same spot as the day before and Sammi had just masterfully taken the upper-hand, leaving Ronnie alone in the Jersey Shore house—a shell of an orange man. […]

The Summer Set take us behind the scenes as they work on the follow-up to 2009's Love Like This. (Photo: Tom Falcone)    

I made a stop at a grocery store the other night to pick up some supplies on my way to the studio. As I got out of my car, I heard two men arguing—not in a friendly way. One of the men was a heavier set fellow, about 5’8”, in a flannel shirt and work […]

Apologies for not getting back to you. Things are just crazy here, what with getting the new issue done, preparing for the AP Fall Tour, editing 157,000 words off the last installment of the AP oral history and gearing up for the New York stand of our 25th anniversary art show. These days, being busy […]

Ryan Adams Ben Kweller The Avett Brothers Ben Folds Conor Oberst & The Mystic Valley Band And most recently, Band Of Horses These are just a handful of the shows (all of which being some of my favorite bands ever) that were more or less ruined, intruded upon or less pleasurable than they should've been […]

I was a disgruntled record store employee/recent college graduate when Kid A came out. If you were like me and an emotionally disenfranchised teenager when “Creep” hit MTV in 1993, you’re picking up what I’m putting down here. I liked Radiohead’s debut, Pablo Honey; I loved their sophomore effort, The Bends; and if OK Computer […]

I Fight Dragons are described as a “chiptune” band, which means they make some crazy beats or something using Nintendos and Game Boys and other fun stuff (like my super-technical definition? yeah, that's what I thought). I was never much of a gamer, so “chip” mostly just makes me think of lunch. However, one of […]

These are the first 60 or so songs that came to mind. I know I completely ignored any kind of classic rock and hip hop, as neither had much bearing on having inspired me to play music. That's not to say that there weren't many amazing and important bands from those genres and eras. I […]

For this installment of Bands That Time Forgot, I want to profile one of the most important groups to my personal musical evolution, Gods Reflex. Odds are, you've never heard of Gods Reflex, and that's not surprising. Even though the band existed in some form or another for nearly a decade and did more than […]

GLEE starts again next week. Tuesday, Sept. 21, to be exact. Effing finally. I can not wait for all the drama, Kurt's spectacular wardrobe and Sue Sylvester's venomous one-liners. (Oh, Sue. You're my fave.) And of course, the songs. Oh, the glorious songs. Now, I'm not one to shy away from show tunes. I used […]

Like most other red-blooded Americans, I love Pawn Stars. If you've never watched the show, here's the premise: People bring (increasingly ridiculous and/or super-duper expensive) stuff into a family-run 24-hour pawn shop in Las Vegas, and they either buy it or don't buy it. Most simple premise ever, yet it never gets boring. Case in […]

When discussions ensue about alleged extremity in the current scene of Loud Music Played With Guitars (that phrase sums up everything nicely, doesn’t it?), the same buzzwords and phrases inevitably crop up. “Heavy.” “Totally sick.” “Intense.” “Punishing.” Granted, nobody uses those terms to describe Taylor Swift, Nickelback or Susan Boyle (although I personally would go […]

  I posted a Facebook status asking people what they would like me to write about for this upcoming AP blog, and I got back myriad responses ranging from the intuitive to the retarded. My two favorites by far were, "How many times a day do you fuck fish?" and "Why I suck for saying […]