After you’ve conquered the world where do you go next? Also the question inevitably becomes, how long can it all last? For the boys in fiction land this become the moment where they knocked some stuff off their personal bucket lists (play to their biggest crowd, record at a legendary studio) but otherwise they just kept doing what they had always done. However beneath it all tensions began to brew as they inevitably do, and time began to play it’s cruel game on members. It would only be a matter of time till this moment came to an end but until that time they would enjoy what they had. Around The World No Name Face were on top of the world, and touring said world while they were at it. While traveling through Europe the band were asked by their record label if they would like to record at legendary Abbey Road studios. They emphatically said yes and were given a week to record whatever they wanted completely self-produced with the only other people in the studio being a staff engineer.
While the record label undoubtedly expected them to just make re-recordings of their current catalog and maybe a couple covers the band instead chose to record an entire album. Made up of leftovers from their previous albums and songs they had been working on while on the road the band was able to bang out the skeleton of an album in that one week. They finished the tracks while on the road and through long distance collaborations with David Moon. The album contains the first time George Packard was featured on lead vocals (and piano) as well as even more contributions from Chris Peltz and Alexander Gramm. Although the album was more sentimental than the group was generally known for it still sold well, but for those who were paying attention the deteriorating vocals of Andrew Webber indicated changes for the band were once again on the horizon. Andrew Webber – Vocals, Bass Chris Peltz – Vocals, Drums George Packard – Vocals, Guitar, Keys, Piano Alexander Gramm – Guitar, Keys, Vocals
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Fame is a weird thing. A lot of people chase it all their lives and never achieve anything resembling it. Others seemingly without trying seem to achieve a lifelong flow of the stuff. Finally is the group that gets their 15 seconds, sometimes more, sometimes less, but always just a moment of fame before time simply forgets who they were to begin with. For my imaginary band of underdogs their 5th album (the self-titled album as it were, just imagine the four chaps in dapper suits against a glossy white background for the album cover) becomes the one that finally gets them some fame. The band is finally thriving and have accomplished their dreams of conquering the world spreading a message of love and hope (with a dash of thoughtful melancholy for character). Now the question becomes, how long will this fame last them, and what will it do to the members of the band? No Name Face The previous album ended up being a bigger success than the band could have imagined. Shortly after self-releasing "Dancing In Ashes" they were picked up by a mainstream label who had the album re-released. Additionally the band were given the pop machine works with music videos, interviews, and opening spots for huge acts followed by their own headlining tour.
Amazingly the band thrived and before long were begging to be put back in a studio to record their next album. They recorded with their original producer David Moon, who by this point was family to the band and the self-titled result was a far more collaborative effort than had been seen in years with Andy Webber taking the lead on six tracks and the remaining tracks being split between Chris Peltz and Alex Gramm on lead vocals. The subject matter split the difference between the standard (but no less engaging) love song and the bands usual grab bag of hope and honesty. Now that they had seemingly conquered the world, where would they go next? Andrew Webber – Vocals, Bass, Keys Chris Peltz – Drums, Vocals George Packard – Guitar, Keys, Vocals Alexander Gramm – Guitar, Keys, Vocals
There are a couple examples of artists making their best work when they think they have nothing left to lose I can think of. Switchfoot’s “The Beautiful Letdown” comes to mind as does “Power Rangers In Space”. Essentially if someone thinks they have nothing to lose they will make the piece of art they want to make, with no inhibitions, and I really love that idea. That’s where we find the guys in our fictional band, at the end of their rope with nothing left to lose. In my universe it becomes one of the bands defining moments, following up on the success paved by their previous album, and paving the way for the future. Dancing In Ashes It truly did seem like the end for the band. After the tour for “Songs From Below” Greg Wise officially left the band to spend time with his family and finish college. Additionally although sales for the last record had been better than their first two, it still wasn’t enough keep their record contract from ending. And suddenly the band was voiceless and homeless (metaphorically at least). The guys chose to soldier on, however and record another album. With funds earned from touring the group self-financed and self-produced their next album in a studio that rented time by the hour. For this album Andrew took lead vocals on most tracks straining his vocal capabilities to the limit. For parts that were out of his range drummer Chris Peltz filled in on vocals as well. After recording the band were once again off touring wherever would have them.
Andrew Webber – Vocals, Bass, Keys George Packard – Guitar, Keys, Vocals Chris Peltz – Drums, Vocals Everything Is Beautiful – Starfield (Andrew Webber) Ammunition – Switchfoot (Andrew Webber) Salt In The Snow – The Classic Crime (Andrew Webber) House Of Mirrors – Tenth Avenue North (Chris Peltz) I Win – Starflyer 59 (Andrew Webber) Resuscitate Me – Remedy Drive (Andrew Webber) Indian Summer – The Waiting (Andrew Webber) Endless Day – Wavorly (Andrew Webber) Chance Of Sunbreak – Yellow Second (Chris Peltz) White Flag – Lakes (Chris Peltz) Foolish Father – Weezer (Andrew Webber) Third albums in an artists discography are really interesting to me. The first two albums are there chance to figure stuff and usually one or the other is the growing pains album. But the third album is where often the artist gets to shine. They’ve now spent years on the road and in the studio honing their craft and now get to show the best they have to offer, using all the skills and resources acquired during the first two albums. For this fictional band the third album is also their make it or break it chance. Record label contracts expire and expectations are either met or you are no longer useful to the industry. I love it when a band goes into a studio and makes a defining piece of work during these make it or break it moments. Songs From Below No Name Face were at a crossroads. After years of relentless touring and only a small following to show for it Singer Greg Wise announced he was ready to leave the band and go back to college. However the other members were not quite ready to give up and convinced him to stay on for at least one more album. Bassist Andy Webber and Guitarist George Packard took the lead on most the songwriting this album, choosing to go back to their roots as a church band and focus a good deal on God. They let this lead them to write songs of worship, repentance, and above all redemption. The group once again teamed with producer David Moon and crafted the album in Moon's private studio. Surprisingly these hopeful and honest anthems led to their biggest success as a band yet.
Greg Wise – Vocals Andrew Webber – Bass, Vocals George Packard – Guitar, Keys, Vocals Chris Peltz – Drums, Vocals
In part two of this series we see the fictional band with real music (please see previous post if you are confused) fall into the dreaded sophomore slump. In reality these second albums may not be as good as the fist album for various reasons, less time to write, rushed production, etc. I like the idea though that in this fictional world (just like in the real world) this is some kids favorite NNF record because they listened to it when they were 14 years old and it just hit a special place with their heart. So without further ado here is album number two in the No Name Face discography. The Show The second album by NNF came amidst great turmoil. Shortly after getting off their first tour drummer Denny Owens chose to leave the band, which left the group short a drummer. Additionally the record label demanded a second album be produced very quickly and with a more pop approach to appeal to as wide of an audience as possible. With label mandated producer Joel Peltz in tow the now trio went into the studio to record their second album. Andrew filled in on drums where he could and all three members contributed bits and pieces of music and lyrics made while on the road but overall they were feeling stretched thin. Thankfully relief came in the form of drummer Chris Peltz (son of Joel) who was more than capable on the drum kit and added another singing voice that blended nicely with Greg’s. Additionally Chris proved himself a capable songwriter and meshed well with the other members of the band. Rejuvenated the band quickly finished the album and went back out on the road, once again ready conquer the world one show at a time.
Greg Wise – Vocals Andrew Webber – Bass, keyboard, Vocals, Drums George Packard – Guitar, keyboard, Vocals Chris Peltz – Drums, Vocals
This may be the most ridiculous idea I ever post on here but you know what it’s my site so I can do what I want. For a long time I’ve loved the idea of band, and the story that the band itself tells through the albums they choose to make, how big they do or do not get, and the members that may come and go. After way too many hours thinking about this concept I came upon the idea of making a fictional band with pre-existing music. Now it goes without saying that a lot of the songs in this playlist comes with it’s own baggage and expectations based on the real life bands that perform the songs. But just try and forget all that for a moment and listen to these songs as if they were all original songs by a completely original band. See what story this band has to tell and maybe find just a little bit of joy in a work of fiction. With all that said below is the name of the album and notes of what’s happening within the band’s fictional universe during this album. Additionally I’ve included the names of the person in the fictional band who is singing lead vocals in parentheses next to the real world track listing to help with the listening experience. Enjoy your journey Hello No Name Face is a fictional band hailing from the suburbs of Indianapolis Indiana. This four piece consists of drummer Denny Owens, lead vocalist Greg Wise, bassist and sometimes lead vocalist Andrew Webber, and guitar player George Packard.
They started as a youth group band playing in their small local church and in Andrew’s garage. Most songwriting was carried out by Andrew Webber and George Packard but especially on this first album contributions are made by all the members. The band was recruited by hotshot producer David Moon (who coincidentally produced the album) on a medium sized record label and they are set on conquering the world, or at least playing somewhere outside of their hometown, whichever comes first. Greg Wise - Vocals Andrew Webber - Bass, Vocals George Packard - Guitar, Keyboard, Vocals Denny Owens - Drums
Like many millennials who grew up in the 2000’s I developed a fascination with Youtube as a platform for independent creators. Particularly I grew to love the video essay format as a place to hear nerds like me talk about our passions like movies, music, and books. I also appreciated how said video essayists avoided (for the most part) manically yelling into the camera without actually reviewing anything that tended to be very popular in the early days of Youtube.
One such Youtuber that I discovered in more recent history but has been around for several years is Austin McConnel. A film maker from Missouri who just kind of makes video’s about whatever is currently interesting him. His earliest videos were trailers for a feature length film he had made but soon he was making videos about theatrical productions, books he liked, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. The views for these videos fluctuated wildly sometimes getting upwards of 5 million and sometimes “only” getting around 100 thousand views. His channel really took off about four years into its creation when he made a four minute video entitled “What To Do If Your Parachute Fails” an absurdist piece played more for comedy than anything, which garnered somewhere around 22 million views. Now most creators would choose to follow that up with more videos in kind, do what works (and in all fairness he did make a sequel of sorts a couple years later), however Austin instead chose to go on doing his own thing and making a lot of videos I really loved. Some highlights include his ongoing weird history and useless information series, the 47 minutes “Voicemails From Strangers” (which low key may make you want to cry) and more personal stories like the one about the time Hollywood called him or his own retrospection on his failure as a film maker. These down to earth videos about a fairly average dude from the Midwest just making videos about stuff he loves really struck a chord with me. It’s not too often you see people maintain their artistic integrity and still remain relatively popular (though admittedly his videos have been less popular in recent history, rarely surpassing the 1 million views mark). His most recent video series that I really love is taking superhero properties that have fallen into the public domain and using them to create his own shared universe. So far he has written a novel (Spider-Woman), helped produced a Saturday morning style cartoon episode (Cat-Man) and as of this writing is in the process of producing a feature length animated film (Atlas). Once again I just really appreciate this guys taking an idea and running with it despite the fact that it hasn’t brought him nowhere near the numbers of some of his older videos. All this to say I really appreciate and enjoy independent creators and I hope you do to. Go out there and find someone you love and support them. So when I was posting my list of top 30 films a couple months ago it’s worth mentioning that Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 just barely didn’t make the list and until Spider-man No Way Home came out was easily my favorite Marvel Cinematic Universe Film. The Guardian’s franchise as a whole (including the delightful Christmas special and their appearance in other Marvel films) have had a great through line of being about family. And not just finding your family which is where a lot of other stories stop, but dealing with the messy emotions, personalities, and ego’s that can be found in any family and still choosing to love each other regardless. Guardians 3 continues these themes while also being in large part about figuring out who we are as individuals, both within and outside the context of our family.
We open the film on the grumpiest member of the Guardian’s family, Rocket Raccoon, and a brief flashback of some of his dark and troubled past that had only been hinted at previously. The movie then segues into the opening credits while playing the Radiohead classic Creep which has a very obvious but no less impactful way of telling us everything we needed to know about Rocket’s mental state at this point in the story. One thing I have loved about all three of these films is how they use songs in their opening credits combined with some onscreen action to give us a lot of information about where the characters are at that point in the story without needing to necessarily give us a clumsy info dump. Really the use of music (via the in universe conduit of Peter’s Walkman, and later Zune) in this franchise has been mostly excellent, finding songs that have some sort of emotional resonance with what we’re seeing on screen. However with that said I did find this particular entry to maybe have a little bit too much music, cramming so many songs into every minute that I often found myself struggling to find that previously mentioned emotional resonance (though this could be commentary on how music streaming has lessened the impact of music in our lives, it’s sadly probably just an excuse to add more music to the next “mixtape” that will be sold as a vinyl). After Rocket is injured it’s a race against time as the rest of his family does everything in their power to save his life. I actually really like the stakes for this film. In the past the Guardians were either fighting to save a planet or even the whole galaxy, but in this film it’s all about saving just one friend. And what great lengths these guys go through, hopscotching across space (as can be expected from this franchise), and butting heads with what I would describe as a mad scientist with a god complex, and at some point’s choosing to give their own lives, all for the life of a friend. Throughout the adventure we get a great exploration of how far these character’s have come since their first appearances (for instance all the guardians who have been part of the team for longer do their best to uphold a do not kill policy) but also how they still have a lot of flaws to overcome. Peter Quill for instance has been on an alcoholic downward spiral since the death of his girlfriend Gamora (further complicated by the fact that she’s not technically dead since a version of her that hasn’t experience all the adventures with her family does exist thanks to time travel shenanigans). His arc throughout the whole film become about figuring out who he is outside of a romantic relationship, something I have personally seen a lot of people struggle with throughout my life. Another subplot involves the characters of Mantis, Drax, and Nebula essentially learning to respect each other’s perceived flaws and finding the strength in each other’s weakness. Some people may find these character dynamics annoying as it’s a plot thread repeated throughout all three films (albeit with different groups of characters) but for anyone who has ever dealt with siblings it’s pretty easy to see how true to life these interactions can be. It’s also a great reminder that none of us are ever done growing and can always find new opportunities to change and become better people. You may have noticed I talk a good deal about the character’s in this film and not so much about the action or the comedy. The reason for that is because while those things do exist and they aren’t bad by any means, it’s kind of exactly what you expect from a Marvel film at this point. Lot’s of lasers going pew pew, loud explosions, and spaceships going zoom zoom. In between it all we get tons of bathos, physical comedy, and witty banter but for me it’s the emotions of these characters and how they show their love for each other through actions they take, that makes any of those things mean anything. Speaking of other Marvel films, the content of this film is just about on par with past films as far as language, violence, and sexual content goes, so keep that in mind if you choose to watch this film with kiddos or sensitive viewers. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous about watching this film, afraid that it was going to let me down in some way, especially being the third film in a trilogy, which traditionally have a history of not always sticking the landing. However, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 surprised me with its continued exploration of what being in a family means, especially when that family isn’t as unified or coherent as it maybe was at one time. I can’t say this film is in my top 100 films list or even in my top MCU films list, but it does have a lot of heart. In an age of endless content (that often feels cynical at best) it’s nice to have a story that cares and connects to me on an emotional level ![]() Adjy is one of those underground bands that once I discovered them on music streaming I just couldn't stop listening. However being an underground band means less chances to see them live. Thankfully they are currently touring in support of a new ep they just released and made a stop in South Bend, Indiana, just a little ways from where I live. Me and my friend Thomas arrived at The Well coffee house around 5:45pm (the concert according to "bandsintown" was scheduled to start at 6). We walked in and were surprised to find only a handful of patrons in the coffee house playing a card game (in fact it was actually the members of adjy who we failed to initially recognize). We took a seat hoping something would happen that would prompt us what to do next. After a little while a barista walked in and starting making drinks for customers as they shuffled in and we got in line to order drinks ourselves (a wonderful Chai) and asked the barista where they were holding the concert, after which we were directed down to the basement. I'll be honest I didn't go to a lot of concerts when I was young and when I have went to concerts as an adult it's mainly been at medium to large sized venues. So you can imagine my surprise when I went down to the basement and it had the look and feel of a basement, complete with random assorted furniture, and cluttered stuff in all the corners. We did thankfully see some merch tables which at least assured us we were at the right venue on the right day (me and Thomas have had a bad experience in the past showing up to a concert on the wrong day and not realizing it). Krogger
Cardboard Highway
Adjy
This concert is probably the smallest I've ever been too but was still an absolute joy and I will definitely be looking for opportunities to see Cardboard Highway and especially Adjy live again in the future.
I guess if your on this website you may want to know a little about me. My name is Samuel and I'm just an average guy from Indiana. I really love God, my wife, my family, my church family, music, books, movies, and lists. I used to include food as something I loved but I'm trying to be healthier as of late so my love of food has diminished as a matter of necessity. Speaking of lists I guess that's as good of a place as any to start, below is a couple lists of my favorite artists, movies, and books. The great thing about lists is they are ever changing so who knows if these lists will be the same tomorrow but for now, here they are.
Favorite Music Artists (non exhaustive list):
Favorite Movies (Non Exhaustive List):
Favorite Books:
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