In case you missed it: The Vinnie Caruana Interview!

Just another great show from us at the Awesome Show: for our Bamboozle special, I was able to sit down with Vinnie Caruana, lead singer of The Movielife and I am the Avalanche! Vinnie was able to stop by for a few minutes before he played an acoustic show at The College of New Jersey, and we were able to get him into the studio for a brief interview, where we talked about what his outlook on The Bamboozle Festival this weekend, where both of his bands will be playing (The Movielife on Saturday, I am the Avalanche on Sunday), and the possibility of new music for both bands! Check it out below:

Album Review: Silverstein - Rescue (2011)

The emo/screamo scene that once thrived in the mid-2000s is, for all intents and purposes, dead. Heroes like The Used and My Chemical Romance have strayed from the path, while screamo darlings like A Static Lullaby and From Autumn to Ashes have fallen by the wayside. Senses Fail is still trying to re-create their magic they found on Let it Enfold You, and Finch's Say Hello to Sunshine sent their career right back to obscurity after the undeniably great What it is to Burn shot them near the cusp of modern-rock success. And then there's the heartbreaking story of how Island Records completely mishandled Thursday. So, with all this negativity, one can easily draw the conclusion that the emo scene didn't produce a single band that was able to sustain a career without completely changing their genre/sound, falling off the map completely, or calling it quits? Fear not, for I give you Silverstein. After a lengthy deal with Victory Records (that they somehow actually fulfilled), the band have found a new home on Hopeless Records, and have released Rescue, their sixth (SIXTH!) studio full-length album. We all know its easy to stick to the same formula, but can Silverstein change up the pace a little bit and continue to be the sole keepers of the screamo faith?

Radio Show Playlist for 4/23/11 (Bamboozle Preview Show)

Hour 1
"Feel Good Drag" - Anberlin - New Surrender
"Image of the Invisible" - Thrice - Vheissu
"What If" - Rx Bandits - Halfway Between Here and There
"The Silence" - Mayday Parade - Anywhere But Here
"Buried a Lie" - Senses Fail - Let It Enfold You
"Light Up Ahead" - Further Seems Forever - Hide Nothing
"Secret Valentine" - We the Kings - We the Kings
"Velvet" - Breathe Carolina - Hello Fascination
"Help Me" - Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony
"Theatre" - Gatsby's American Dream - Volcano
"Everything Went Numb" - Streetlight Manifesto - Everything Goes Numb
"Broken vs. the Way We Were Born" - Emarosa - Emarosa

Album Review: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light (2011)

After 4 years we finally have the new album from the Foo Fighters! Now for those of you who did not hear, the Foos ditched the fancy studios and computers for Dave Grohl's garage and analog tape. Once I heard about this, it honestly made me skeptical of the album. I had semi-low expectations, and I really didn't think it would be up to Foo Fighters' standards.

Was I ever wrong....

"Wasting Light" has a very raw rock feel to it. They went back to their roots of heavy guitars and loud drums. Their last 3 albums (Echoes, In Your Honor, One by One) seemed to rely a lot on Dave's vocals. However this album is different. It's a trip back to the self-titled album and Colour and the Shape. I'm not saying the last 3 were bad albums (I actually really liked them), but the Foos went back to what they are best at: guitar-driven rock. When you listen to the record, you get the feeling as if the Foos had a lot of fun making the record.

The album shoots out of the gate with the first song, "Bridge Burning". The drums and guitar in the intro are some of the heaviest I have ever heard from them. But the song gives the album a fantastic start and honestly, it is one of my favorites on the record.

Despite being a very guitar and drum heavy album, there are some songs where Dave's vocal and lyrical abilities shine. Songs like "Walk" (my favorite on the record) and "Dear Rosemary" prove that Dave Grohl is still one of the best vocalists in all of rock music.

To sum it all up, this is an album that will surely be on a lot of Top Album Lists at the end of the year. There aren't a lot of standout, sure-fire "singles" on the record. You won't find "Everlong" or "Best of You" or "My Hero" on this record. But I feel it is one of the most complete albums they have ever written.

PICK IT UP!!!

This is my first ever album review. I would love to hear your feedback, both praise and criticism. Leave your comments!!!

-Mike Leatherwood

Album Review: Dance Gavin Dance- Downtown Battle Mountain II

.

Member changes and comebacks are all the rage nowadays, but Dance Gavin Dance have run the gammut in that department for the better part of the last decade. With four full-lengths and an EP all released on Rise Records, the band hasn't seen the same lineup in any two of those releases, but that hasn't stopped them from making waves in the post-hardcore/experimental scene. While 2009's Happiness, which saw the band mature with the evolution of former frontman Kurt Travis, was what most would consider a breakout album, many DGD fans were still yearning for the band to return to the unmistakable and unique sound the band displayed on their debut full-length Downtown Battle Mountain. Only problem with that is that both vocalists who graced DBM (screamer Jon Mess and embattled singer Johnny Craig) weren't even in the band anymore. Not to fret, as the band announced in mid 2010 that they would be reuniting with Craig and Mess to record the highly-demanded Downtown Battle Mountain II. Two things were certain as the band went into recording for the album: one, that the pressure was on the band to deliver another scene classic, and two, there was really no way to predict what the album would sound like.

Radio Show Playlist for 4/16/11

Hour 1
"Heart in My Hands" - Trust Company - Dreaming in Black & White
"The Meaning of Life" - The Offspring - Ixnay on the Hombre
"Readyfuels" - Anberlin - Blueprints for the Black Market
"One by One All Day" - The Shins - Oh, Inverted World
"Stare at the Sun" - Thrice - The Artist in the Ambulance
"Set Off" - Hey Monday - Hold on Tight
"In the Now" - Cursive - Mama, I'm Swollen
"Librarian" - My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
"Twilight" - Elliott Smith - From a Basement on the Hill
"Let It Burn" - Red - Until We Have Faces
"Spiders" - System of a Down - System of a Down
"Almost Easy" - Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold

Find us on Twitter and Facebook!

Follow the Mike and Tom Awesome Show on Twitter at @MikeandTomWTSR! You can also check out our Facebook Fan Page at "The Mike and Tom Awesome Show"

Album Review: Beady Eye - Different Gear, Still Speeding (2011)

Beady Eye?  Who the hell is Beady Eye?  If you're asking yourself that, the answer is simple.  Beady Eye consists of the former band Oasis minus Noel Gallagher.  After the split with Oasis, Liam and the rest of the Oasis gang decided to continue making new music.  Eventually they settled on the name Beady Eye (if they couldn't come up with a name before the album was done, they were going to settle on Oasis 2.0).

So finally, Beady Eye releases their first album, Different Gear, Still Speding.  Is their album a far departure from Oasis, or is it just Oasis 2.0?

In case you missed it: The Anthony Green Interview!

Hey Mike and Tom Awesome Fans! Donald here. So, in case you didn't listen to the show this weekend (HOW DARE YOU), you missed a doozie of a show: but fret not, for we at the Show want to include as many people in this journey through the world of modern rock as we possibly can. And with that, here it is, a dream of mine coming true: the interview I did on Tuesday, April 5, 2011 with Anthony Green, lead singer of Circa Survive!

HOW COOL IS THAT?! Many thanks are due to Jillian Polak and the entire CUBRat staff at The College of New Jersey, and most of all, Anthony Green for not only giving us a great interview, but allowing me to fulfill another silly childhood dream of mine.

What'd you guys think of the interview? Leave some love/hate/babbling/banter in the comments, and we'll see you for the show on Saturday!

Radio Show Playlist for 4/9/11

Hour 1
"Diamond in the Rough" - Social Distortion - Hard Times & Nursery Rhymes
"I Think I Found It' - Manic Street Preachers - Postcards from a Young Man
"Save Me" - Shinedown - Us & Them
"The Valley" - Eisley - The Valley
"Rainy Monday" - Shiny Toy Guns - We Are Pilots
"Where I've Begun" - Depswa - Two Angels and a Dream
"Southern Weather" - The Almost - Southern Weather
"This Scene is Dead" - We Are Scientists - With Love and Squalor
"Bleed for You" - Hidden in Plain View - Life in Dreaming
"XO Skeleton" - A Skylit Drive - Identity on Fire
"Cracks in the Surface" - Flobots - Survival Story
"Wait and Bleed" - Slipknot - Slipknot

BIG Surprise on this week's show!

That's right folks:  don't Act Appalled, the Mike and Tom Awesome Show is dedicated to bring you a great show in Everyway. In Fear and Faith, our listeners have supported us over the years, and we want to thank them for going The Longest Mile to support us. We are not your Imaginary Enemy, we will not let you go Through the Desert Alone. That's why this Saturday, we'll be bringing you something we never thought possible, even in out wildest Fever Dreams. So cross that Strange Terrain, sing the Travel Hymn as you walk over Frozen Creek and be sure to tune in from 6-9PM on 91.3 FM WTSR to see what all this means!

Now, Get Out and enjoy this lovely Spring weather!

Radio Show Playlist for 4/2/11

*NOTE:  This is the Mike and Tom Awesome Acoustic Show playlist from last night.  All albums mentioned are where the songs originated from.*

Hour 1
"Meagan" - Bayside - Acoustic EP
"Today" - Smashing Pumpkins - Siamese Dream
"The Sky is Falling" - Lifehouse - Stanley Climbfall
"Here Without You" - 3 Doors Down - Away From the Sun
"I Felt Free" - Circa Survive - Blue Sky Noise
"Don't Be So Hard" - The Audition - Controversy Loves Company
"Black Hole Sun" - Soundgarden - Superunknown
"Vitamin R" - Chevelle - This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In)
"Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" - Jet - Get Born
"All Over You" - Spill Canvas - No Really, I'm Fine
"Mess of Me" - Switchfoot - Hello Hurricane
"Iris" - Goo Goo Dolls - Dizzy Up the Girl