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Local rock music photographer and a dear friend of mine, Anne Ferguson, suffered a great loss when her Nikon D80′s mirror system was shattered while photographing a concert recently. Known to many frequent concert-goers as “photog-mom”, Anne was a staple at almost any hardcore show, happily situating herself in the photo pit and capturing not only a live show, but the very passion and emotion musicians expressed during a performance that only she could find.

While many of her fans and close friends wanted to help, not many could think of an appropriate way to aid Anne, who did not have the funds to replace the irreparably damaged DSLR camera body. It was Darien Paige, lead singer of NYC’s Belladonna, who thought of a way to help Anne while providing any potential donaters some great entertainment; it was with this idea that the Bands For Anne Benefit Concert was born.

Bringing together some of the best examples of New York and New Jersey’s local talent, Bands For Anne features 13 hardcore bands who are all eager to help out a local photographer in need. The bands will play at NYC’s Crash Mansion, known for the TV show Fearless Music which has played a vital role as the starting point for many local band’s careers. A raffle for one of Anne’s framed and matted composites will be available as well as an auction that is expected to feature signed merchandise from bands such as Our Last Night, BlessTheFall, Escape The Fate, and more; all personal friends of Anne that she has met throughout her career.

I was able to ask seven of the 13 bands some questions about who they are, what type of music they play, and why you should be more than excited to see them live. If you’re interested in attending Bands For Anne, and you are 18+, be sure to come down to Crash Mansion (http://crashmansion.com/) on Thursday, January 28th. The show starts from 7pm and goes until 2am and is a mere $12 for 18+ attendees, and an even cheaper $10 for 21+ concert-goers.

Veracosa- myspace.com/veracosany

How did you form?

We were all friends and we operated as a 3 piece band until our manager found us a bassist. Our drummer soon came along for the ride after 5 months of being a band.

In what genre would you classify your music in?
We don’t really like to classify ourselves in any genre particularly, but if we would have to choose one it would be a melodic Post-Hardcore with sprinkles of southern influences. We like to call it VeraCore ;D

How do you think your band sets itself apart from other bands in its genre?
We bring a melodic feel to the hardcore scene which is what the scene has been missing since forever. We are more of a family than a band; our friendship comes first rather than just doing this for business. We take more of a “let’s have fun” approach rather than a strictly “doing it for the fame” approach. We like to joke around yet stay in your fucking face at the same time. Another thing is that we never dismiss a song idea, we just all work together to make it something great.

If you could go on tour with any 3 bands, who would you pick, and why?
If we had to pick 3 bands we would go on tour with A Skylit Drive, Senses Fail, and A Day To Remember or Alesana (they tied in the spot). We would tour with them because they influenced us as much as we were already fans of their amazing music.

On Borrowed Time- www.MySpace.com/onborrowedtimeny

What is your name, where are you from, and how did you form?

We are On Borrowed Time from Queens, New York by majority. Well actually we will be honest here and specific as possible. Ron and Vin are from Hamilton Beach, Queens. Seabass and Ivan are from Woodhaven, Queens, and Jay is from the Bronx, New York. Vincent Agate plays the bass and does the “deathly lows” to back up the vocals in the band. Ronald Teri dances and plays guitars, while also singing backup cleans [vocals] and playing the keyboard. Jay Williams brings the sexiness and makes the band hot (said while pointing down at his crouch) and dabbles solemnly on the guitar (wink), which in turn brings melodic mastery to the overall sound. Sabastian is the shyest of the fellas unless he is under the under the influence of Mountain Dew, Seabass claims his main focus is on the cowbell but he also sits behind drums and lets loose. And, of course, Ivan fronts the outfit and provides the cleans and screams and makes everything so hot! And unlike Jay, he does it shirtless. OBT first formed when Vin, and Ron wanted to make a band. After previous adventures in their early teen lives FAILED, they decided to learn from all past mishaps and make things this time just fun. Ron states that the band formed just like every other 21st century-Xbox playing band, by Guitar Hero, lol, real talk though… The guys were high school classmates with Ivan and picked him up. The guys then held auditions for a second-first guitarist for the very technical style they were looking for; yeah OBT has 2 first guitarists, and Jay came from a friend of a friend, you know how these things work out. Jay used to be in a band with Seabass and they came as a packaged deal. Win. All the guys blended well with all of their extremely different backgrounds and mended well and make beautiful music together.

In what genre would you classify your music in? How do you think your band sets itself apart from other bands in its genre?

Well to fit into a genre is always a difficult task to claim, especially when starting out, we are still experimenting with a lot of styles so our sound isn’t set just yet, but it is developing. Vin says that “if we had to describe it, we are mostly hardcore, or post-hardcore, we really wouldn’t know the pre-requisites for either genre, lol, but whatever that is, that’s what we are. Our music is always fast paced, and it is everything literally smashed together, like blues, loud bass and electronic parts and breakdowns, it’s just beauty. It’s beautiful-hardcore,” backed up and claimed by Ron, “we just want to do what we want and we are some talented kids,” so hopefully we can make something out of this. When asked Sabastian simply responded, “I dunno, I guess Mountain Dew, that’s how we sound in my mind.” Ivan states that “the band is strictly Metalcore just so we get fat metal dudes to check us out.” Jay says basically we are Smooth Post-Metalcore, R’n’B meats breakdowns, no typo there.

Deceiving Persephone- www.MySpace.com/deceivingpersephone

In what genre would you classify your music in? How do you think your band sets itself apart from other bands in its genre?

I would concider our music to be somewhat post-deathcore, because our music is composed of deathmetal/metalcore guitar riffs but has a high pitched singing tone too it which would put it in a post genre. I think we set ourselves apart from other band in the game because of what we bring to the table, sure there are other bands out there that can do what we do but they can’t do it as good as we do it.

Who are your greatest influences as musicians?

Personally my greatest influences as a vocalist is Phill Bozmen of Whitechapel; I think he’s an absolutely amazing vocalist.

If you could go on tour with any 3 bands, who would you pick, and why?

If I could tour with any 3 bands, I would pick 2 NYC local bands, and one signed band. I would pick On Borrowed Time, just because I love all the members in that band and they’re all really nice people. The second local band I would pick is Vienna Falls, just cause before I was in a band I would always go to their shows and dance my heart out, if anyone in NYC deserves to get big it’s them. They’ve always came through when anyone has needed them and they’re all sweethearts. The signed band I would have to say A Plea For Purging. I’ve never seen them live in person but I’ve seen videos on them and their stage aura is just amazing, it’s so positive and pure ,it just drives me insane, as it does everyone else.

Vienna Falls- MySpace.com/viennafalls

Where are you from, and how did you form?

Brooklyn/Queens/Long Island. Joe, Erik and Rosario were once in another band, but we then found Sean and Jay and formed this one.

In what genre would you classify your music in? How do you think your band sets itself apart from other bands in its genre?

We are hardcore/screamo. All of our members have different influences, I believe we set ourselves apart by our own separate influences.

If you could go on tour with any 3 bands, who would you pick, and why?

Speaking for the rest of the members, I assume it would be: The Devil Wears Prada, Miss May I, Underoath.

Wrath of Hera- www.MySpace.com/thewrathofhera

How did you form?

The Wrath of Hera was formed by drummer Zach Lieggi and guitarist Nick Laezza, after the breakup of their former band A Plot For Your Demise. They began writing new music in mid April of 2009, tried out numerous vocalist and finally came across former Etched In Flesh vocalist Allen “Hazebert” Middleton. The trio then held many auditions for guitar and bass,and in September guitarist Angelo Bruccoleri (ex A Plot For Your Demise) joined the project.

In what genre would you classify your music in?

We wouldn’t classify ourselves in to one genre of music due to the fact that our music covers every style of metal.

How do you think your band sets itself apart from other bands in its genre?

Our very intense live performance. We produce a powerful energy that radiates from the stage to the back of the crowd,while playing a tight set.

Waste Deep In Flesh- www.MySpace.com/wdif

“We are Waist Deep In Flesh from Brooklyn, NY. We formed back in 2007 with just Jonathan as vocals and Gian as bass. We had several drummers and guitarist that didn’t last long. Soon enough, Gian moved up to guitar and close friend Felix joined as drums. After three seasons of practicing we started receiving show offers during the Fall of 2008. Even though we didn’t have a bass player we took them. We played shows with well known bands such as Setback, Line Of Scrimmage, Billyclub Sandwich, Waking the Cadaver and Sworn Enemy. By the Winter of 2009, we had a bass player that lasted only two shows including a show with Razorblade Hand Grenade; after that we decided not to play a show without a bass player. We searched and searched and found Quincy. We spent all summer practicing and started playing shows again in August of 2009. After that, it was non-stop with shows being offered to us left and right. Gian started college in the fall of ’09 and met the new lead guitarist Tom. Now as a full band, we have played even bigger shows with Full Blown Chaos and Empire Shall Fall. We had also recently headlined our first show which was full of friends and fans dancing and singing along to our music. Since then we had realized we became an established Hardcore band from NYC.”

“We currently are recording a 7 track EP and will be selling it at shows. If you would like to purchase it outside of a show, just message us on the Facebook or Myspace and we can meet up personally.”

For You I Will- www.MySpace.com/fyiwmusic

“We are For You I Will from Bergen County NJ, actually right across the bridge. We formed through just lots of searching through other bands MySpaces and eventually found all the right people to form an extremely hard working band.”

“We are a Hardcore band with a twist of Melodic Metal. We set ourselves apart from everyone else with how we balance out different genres in our music with transitions and no repeating parts; they’re may be no repeating parts but they are sure to get stuck in your head! We all have different influences from all different genres, from New Found Glory to The Ghost Inside.”

I hope to see a lot of Mosh To This readers there, and I know you’ll have some great fun! If you want to check out some of Anne’s work, be sure to head over to her MySpace page.

Many feel that trippy songsters Animal Collective could never outdo their most recent release, Merriweather Post Pavillion, but with the band’s recent announcement, they may have done the impossible.  Teaming up with director Danny Perez, the group has created Oddsac, a visual album.  The musical film will make it’s debut at the Sundance Film Festival, and will then be screened in both New York City and Chicago.  More cities and screenings are soon to be announced, and more information, as well as links to purchase tickets, can be found at www.oddsac.com.

December 11– Prior to the start of Z100′s Jingle Ball concert, several artists took a trip through the H&M Gift Lounge. Several performing artists, as well as other celebrities, were able to choose from an assortment of gifts from brands such as Wonka, Verizon, Duracell, and several others.

-All Photos are credited to WireImage-

Among the talent that turned out were American Idol finalist Adam Lambert, American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, and Justin Bieber, who all later performed at the concert. The bands Boys Like Girls and The Fray, pop singer Ke$ha, and Jay Sean made sure to attend the gift lounge.  Also present were actresses Anika Noni Rose (Disney’s The Princess and The Frog), Katrina Bowden (30 Rock), actor Mark Indelicato (Ugly Betty), comedian Judah Friedlander (30 Rock), and many others.

Some of the best gifts of the night that attendees were able to choose from included a new Verzion Wireless Droid phone, a $500 gift card and VIP Shopping Pass to H&M, a WONKA Purple Card that entitled the holder to a year’s worth of candy, and a year’s supply of their favorite flavor of 5 Gum.

One very special stand came from Duracell, who displayed the Duracell Power Rover. This bicycle-like device allowed riders to continuously pedal the machine, which in turn, generated energy. This energy will be harnessed to power the 2010 numerals in the Times Square New Years Celebration. All those who attended the lounge were more than happy to donate their time to help power such an iconic image.

All those who attended the Gift Lounge seemed to enjoy the selection quite a bit. When selecting his 5 Gum flavor, Owl City’s Adam Young told an attendant “I’ve never kissed a girl, but now I’m ready!” Judah Friedlander spent nearly 30 minutes setting up his new Verizon Wireless Droid at the Verizon stand, and pop singer Ke$ha, while receiving her gift card to H&M, was overheard telling her publicist “please make sure we don’t lose this one, I’m going to use it after the show.”

It was a very productive day for all those who attended the H&M Gift Lounge as well as those who helped run it. The talent were happy with their new gifts, and the representatives of the individual companies were more than happy to spread the word about their product.

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