Music
Press
By Annie Zaleski in Record Store Best-Sellers
Tue., Sep. 29 2009 @ 11:50AM
A bit late this week, but here are the top sellers for local rekkid stores. Asterisk means the band's coming to town...
Vintage Vinyl
1. BRAND NEW---Daisy*
2. JAY-Z---The Blueprint 3
3. THIS IS ENERGY---How It Begins*
4. MONSTERS OF FOLK---Monsters Of Folk
5. PEARL JAM---Backspacer
6. SAOSIN---In Search Of Solid Ground
7. MUSE---Resistance
8. K-JON---I Get Around
9. BEATLES---White Album
10. LIL' BOOSIE---Superbad: The Return Of Boosie Bad Azz
11. NOISETTES---Wild Young Hearts
12. BEATLES---Abbey Road
13. SAOSIN---Saosin
14. YO LA TENGO---Popular Songs
15. MAXWELL---BLACKSummers'Night*
16. VARIOUS ARTISTS---Silky Soul Music: All Star Tribute To Maze
Featuring Frankie Beverly
17. WHITNEY HOUSTON---I Look To You
18. OLIVER SAIN---St. Louis Breakdown: The Best Of Oliver Sain
19. NEW BOYZ---Skinny Jeanz & A Mic
20. RAEKWON---Only Built For Cuban Linx, Pt. 2
21. KID CUDI---Man On The Moon: The End Of The Day
22. MATISYAHU---Light*
23. BEATLES---Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
24. DAVID BAZAN---Curse Your Branches
25. GIRLS---Album - Riverfront Times
Call it a cop-out, but sometimes it’s just better to let bands describe themselves in their own words. To be frank, there’s no way I could do This Is Energy’s bio justice with my own words. Here, take it from the band:
THIS IS ENERGY is more than a band and music! It is YOU! It is US! It is a Community and a way of life! It is a Journey! It is Living! It is finding what truly makes you happy, and giving it all you got! It is inspiring others to tap into their full potential! It is being someone and doing SOMETHING! It is realizing that each of you are EXTRAordinary! It’s knowing that there is an unlimited supply of goodness on this earth! It’s wanting something so bad, you can taste it! It’s learning that there is absolutely NO ONE or NO THING that can keep you from your happiness! It is proving the people who said you couldn’t do it wrong! There is just YOU!! And YOU are more powerful and capable than you might yet understand! WE UNDERSTAND THAT WE CAN!! This is YOU! THIS IS ENERGY! THIS IS OUR MOVEMENT!!!!! You have 2 choices, BE MOVED or DO THE MOVING!!! Join us and let’s CHANGE THE WORLD!!!!!!! YOU ARE THE ENERGY MOVEMENT!!!!
See?!?! Don’t worry. There’s no membership fee associated with listening to This Is Energy, and you don’t have to wake up early on the weekends or dress up fancy either. The St. Louis-born, Los Angeles-based twosome compose unforgettable power pop ballads, taking cues from influences as far ranging as Sting and Third Eye Blind. Adam Gardner and Britton Campbell are This Is Energy, and they’re on a mission! A mission to set your life on fire with inspiration and… wel … energy. Obviously. Anyway, this is some majorly compelling stuff. Walls of guitar fuzz, irresistible melodies and crashing, edgy choruses that’d make even Bono proud. Listen!
- MTV Buzzworthy Blog
One of the big venues for a concert in St. Louis is The Pageant, and I had the opportunity to interview a band playing there on Sept. 18. Adam Gardner and Britton Campbell make up the band This Is Energy, and both of them are from St. Louis. This is a portion of that interview.
What brought you guys together as a band?
Adam: We're both from St. Louis. We met through a friend in high school. We started a band for 5 years, but we broke up in 2006 and entered a new project [This Is Energy] in 2007.
Britton: We met in high school through a friend. We did a band… we toured the whole country several times over. … We kinda got burnt out toward the end though and we got frustrated with music and the music industry. What happened in between the breakup and This Is Energy is the most important part. ... I moved out to California to find myself… and Adam continued to write music. Every time he wrote a new song he e-mailed me what he'd done. … We realized we weren't happy doing something other than playing music. We had a two-hour conversation, basically saying, 'Look, if you're willing to play music I will totally drop what I'm doing here...because I miss it so much.' So we called our project This is Energy.
The name This Is Energy really defines what you are about. What's the story behind this passion?
Britton: I was just thinking about what describes the music and how people will feel when they see us live. It's gonna be a moving thing, a full-blown experience you'll never forget.
It came from a personal realization. When we broke up our last band, I think we did it for the wrong reasons. I'm really glad we failed. … We kinda decided we'd much rather be happy and be doing the things we love and hanging out together-even if we were broke, at least we'd be happy.
Hopefully that'll transfer through the music we make. That it's ok to go for your dreams and do what makes you happy. I feel like so many people think they need to do things that society thinks is right, but we don't ever want to do that again. That's what the message is, go with your dreams and do what makes you happy.
Where do you see yourselves in a year?
Adam: I think the CD we're coming out with, "How it Begins..." is especially going to really make a path for the rest of our music career. We're willing to do whatever it takes to get where we want to be and that's the top. Definitely playing bigger venues, touring, opening for a big name band. Definitely a full-length album for next year.
Britton: I know for a fact we'll still be happy doing what we're doing. We'll still be playing music that's fun for us to play.
Tell me one unusual experience you've had along the way.
Britton: I was crowd-surfing and I got off and waved and got offstage. This girl came up to us and her face was all covered in blood. I was like 'what happened to you?' She said, "You sat on my face!" And I was like, 'I'm so sorry, have t-shirts, have CDs!' She had to go to the hospital.
How can everyone check out your new CD?
Britton: Every week we upload a new song on the myspace.com/thisisenergy but in order to do that we have friends and fans twitter us.
Our pre-sell just started today, so there's a link where people can go to our store and they get a signed copy before the actual release date. We're really stoked about this CD! It's an EP, it's our first actual release and it's available Sept. 25, at all major retailers, Hot Topics, stuff like that.
We're really excited about everything going on in our lives right now. That's why we called it "How it Begins..." We feel like it's a launch pad to a long musical journey. - Lindenwood Legacy
St. Louis band This is Energy is the winner of the 2010 Briggs & Stratton "Battle of the Bands," nabbing the title after a month-long online fan vote.
The band, which beat out 300 other contenders from such far-flung places as Italy and Finland, gets a gig at Summerfest at 4 p.m. on Saturday, June 26, opening for the Briggs & Stratton Bluesbusters and Gavin DeGraw on the (natch) Briggs & Stratton stage.
"It's been a long road, but we are so excited to make it to Milwaukee!" said singer and guitarist Adam Gardner.
"We entered the Battle knowing that it would be up to the fans around the world to vote us in, and we're so fortunate to have loyal admirers to get us this far! We're dedicated to ourselves and our fans, and are thrilled out of our minds to get to rock out for thousands of music lovers at Summerfest next month."
This is Energy comprises Gardner, drummer Britton Campbell, Charlie Springhart on bass and guitarist Dave Baronio. All hail from St. Louis, except Baronio who moved to the U.S. from Lille, France to pursue his rock and roll dream.
"This is the second time we've organized this contest, and again, we're amazed at the response," said Todd Teske, President & CEO of Briggs & Stratton.
"When we named our top three bands a few weeks ago, we knew music fans wouldn't disappoint. We were absolutely blown away by how many votes came in to the site, and also how close the vote was at the end. We know This is Energy is deserving of this winning title, and we're excited to see them here in Milwaukee."
- OnMilwaukee.com
Discography
"How It Begins..."EP Released Sept 25. Produced by Grammy-award winning producer Chris Testa (Dixie Chicks, Jimmy Eat World). Includes songs with regional and radio airplay "Comeback" and "Forevermore."
Singles -
I Never...
Holding On
With More Reason
Photos
Bio
With Sting inspired pop music and a unique sound that fuses the modern styling of Third Eye Blind and Dashboard Confessional, Adam Gardner (vocals/guitar), Britton Campbell (drums), Charlie Springhart (bass guitar), and Dave Baronio (guitar) live, eat, and breathe their passion. Their passion is simply changing lives in this generation through the power of music. All members spawn from good, decent families where they were taught the values of hard work and raised with love. The same type of families that many people are raised in, yet many of these people never truly believe that they ARE special. Adam, 24, Britton, 24, Charlie, 24, and Dave, 21, have discovered their true passion and the ENERGY that they create when they write and play music. �The reason I do this is because I want to change someone�s life in a unique way, the same way that music has changed mine,� Adam announces.
Adam, Britton, and Charlie worked together in a previous group from St. Louis that had nationwide success as an independent band. They traveled together on multiple nationwide tours, including �04 & �05 Warped Tours, sold 13,000 records completely independently (before the popularity of myspace and itunes), and built a strong fan base, as well as selling out 1000+ capacity local venues consistently. After the break-up of the former band, Adam, Britton, and Charlie went their own ways, never forgetting what they had accomplished at such a young age. For the following two years, Adam would continue to express himself through writing new music, topping his last musical work each time. Excited by the potential of these songs, he knew he had to find band members that shared his passion and called Britton and Charlie. They both felt the power in these new songs, motivating them to pursue their love for music once again. �I just knew I wasn�t where I was supposed to be anymore, the only time I�ve ever felt right is sharing the stage with my best friends and connecting with the people who enjoy our music. For the first time in our lives, we now understand that we can,� recalls Britton. They knew they could never give up on their dream again and that there would be no stopping them, despite any obstacles. They discovered guitar player Dave soon after he had moved to St. Louis from his native country of France to pursue his dream of playing music. In Adam�s words, �We feel like this was meant to be, not just coincidence. As if Dave was sent here to find us, his mentality and passion fit us so perfectly.� With Dave completing the four-piece, THIS IS ENERGY was formed.
Now, they have a burning passion to pass their ENERGY on to future generations and to inspire everyone large and small to DO SOMETHING and BE SOMEONE, to make an impact on the world around them in a positive way, and to send a message to the entire world �Don�t Give Up on Your Dreams.� The same philosophy that this band exudes through their own lives and in everything they do. There is no doubt that they are an unstoppable force, going to the very top, and they are bringing a generation with them.
Links
