Disclaimer: I'm not here to please everyone!

Hey guys, apparently this post needs to be made because at school a girl came up to me and said "X didn't like what you said about them in your review." Well let me make something clear, I'm here to state my opinion and to state facts more than anything. I know for a fact that I'm not going to please everyone and that's just the way that these things go. I'm not changing my style or sugar coating anything just to please people. You want to know my opinions or the facts? I'm here to state those. Don't come to me asking for my opinion and then become upset about it. I'm here for constructive criticisms, to tell you what I, and possibly others, may have liked or disliked about your stuff. I'm here to give suggestions, I'm not trying to boost any egos or bring anyone down, I'm giving the feedback that you ask for. I'm sorry for those who don't enjoy my reviews but that isn't going to stop me from doing what I enjoy doing, which is writing these posts and reviews because a lot of people have been enjoying them! So all in all, I know for a fact I won't please everyone and I don't intend to. Sorry.
                                                                    XOXO,
                                                                        R. Vanity ♥

Local show brings musicians together!

October 18th was a day I will never ever forget. A day where my internet life and my real social life intertwined. One of my best friends, Stacie, and I decided to throw a Halloween party in which we'd invite some bands I know and dress up. We had planned this party for about a month and a half and if you know me, you know there had to be good music. Stacie and I talked her mom into letting us party it up at her place and invite some of my friends to come play and I knew exactly who to invite. At the end of the day I had a four band set up that consisted of James Wolfe  (Joe Wolfe of Sister City's brother), Spooky Casual, Naked, and finally Social Repose. Richie was the first to show up in his little black Nissan packed full with equipment; the first thing he said was "Hey girl!" Richie, Lizzy (My girlfriend at the time), Stacie, and I all went back and forth taking his things into the house and then he set up. His set up was crazy consisting of different lights, speakers, his mic, sound boards, a fog machine, and maybe even more! Next to show up was Carl Smith AKA Naked and 1/3 of Spooky Casual. Then Matt, and so on. Not only did everyone play a killer set but I met people that I've been waiting to meet forever! Let's start with BowTie Steele shall we? This 6'4" man looks scary with a beard and long teal blue hair but once you get to talking to him you'll think the complete opposite. BowTie was one person I connected to instantly especially when I went to shake his hand he pulled me into a straight up hug. He's funny, fun, and feels like a brother and someone I've known for years. He is also the bassist for Encasing Embrace and the fill in bassist for Face The Fire It was an honor to meet him. Next is the ever fabulous Richie Giese of Social Repose. I had my doubts about him when we Facebook chatted I'll be honest, my biggest fear being that he might've just been acting kind for fans sake or to get a gig but when I met him in person I instantly knew my doubts were indeed incorrect. Richie was one of the kindest people I've ever met with a set to die for. He instantly got you off your feet and jumping and headbanging and every other exciting dance adjective I can think of. He was almost like that hot friend/ big brother that everyone wants because they find him very attractive and then you get to see what he's actually like and you're like well damn this guy is actually pretty dope. (If that made any kind of sense.) Carl Smith was the last one I got to meet that I've previously talked to on the internet and Carl was very quiet but when he spoke it was very honest, funny, or a nice combo of both. NOW LET'S TALK THE MUSIC ASPECT BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU'RE HERE FOR, right? James Wolfe went first with a folky pop-punk sound that at first I was a little thrown off by. As his set progressed I really seemed to enjoy it, his chords were great, vocals on point, and he seemed to be enjoying himself! If you wanna check him out (which I highly suggest doing) do so here. You can really see his personality through his songs, a personality which I think I could get along with. Next was Spooky Casual, now please feel for these dudes and cut them some slack because #1 their vocalist had a family emergency so she couldn't make it so Carl took the liberty of covering the vocals and #2 Matt's guitar legitimately began falling apart even before they played and it progressively got worse as they began to. I spoke to a few of the audience members that listened along with me to Spooky Casual's set and we all agreed that the amp volume was too high for their material, we also all agreed that you could barely hear Carl singing, and that the cord progression in each song sounded sort of similar. The biggest problem with Spooky's set in my own opinion was the mic volume. As a Spooky Casual fan my favorite part are the lyrics and when I can't hear what the vocalist is saying it messes with the way I perceive the song, but looking at it as a whole, with the circumstances they were faced with, Spooky Casual didn't do too bad of a job. Let's take a look at the positives of their set: Carl moved around which kept us all interested, the lighting fit the music style, and Matt wore man-flops. As always. Check Spooky Casual out here. Naked was next and here's where we had some major problems, although I love Carl with my heart and soul we had a giant issue. Carl's set has a song at the end where Carl places a noose around his neck and proceeds to sing and do the gestures of him hanging, this ended up actually triggering about 5 kids and made them have to step out due to PTSD, anxiety, and depression issues with that set. Although that wasn't completely Carl's fault and I did like the song he was singing, I would suggest sending a fair warning out to show goers incase anyone may get triggered by that sort of thing in the future. Carl's songs were very pretty though with deep lyrics about depression and suicide and lighting that fit just as well. Over all Carl did very well and musically his set was top tier. Check Naked out here. Finally, the night was ended by the wonderful uplifting tunage of the ever fabulous Social Repose, and if you check my blog on the regular you know I love me some SR. Richie's set was by far my favorite, he had a light show that was programmed to go with his music, two brand new spot lights, a fog machine, and well his music is my jam. Richie got everyone up on the floor, got me to dance so hard my legs hurt for two days, had BowTie on the floor (BowTie even picked Richie up and spun him around) and Richie had everyone smiling and happy! Richie's actual voice is pretty much the same that you hear in recordings, no autotune or anything and he's very fun to dance with! Richie will be going on tour starting in November so make sure to check him out if you can! Check out his music here. Overall the party was a great success with many musicians and many great friends! Stay tuned for interviews with Social Repose and Spooky Casual soon!

Social Repose to go on a full U.S. winter tour with Blood On The Dance Floor!

Richie Giese from Social Repose announced earlier on this week that he will, for a fact be touring with the one and only, Blood On The Dance Floor. Social Repose is to be opening for BOTDF on The Reckoning Tour, the tour is to hit up most states (not including MD, boooooo) and will start on November 23rd and end December 19th. I've spoken to Richie personally who is extremely excited to be touring with the well known band consisting of members Dahvie Vanity and Jayy Von Monroe. If you can, buy tickets and support the movement at botdfvip.bigcartel.com stay tuned for more on Social Repose and your other favorite local bands.

Rachel Reviews: Crazy Manic Love (Social Repose)

Today I'll be reviewing the EP "Crazy Manic Love" by Social Repose, I'll be going through this track by track! The first track is "Crazy Manic Love" which is a very powerful song to start an EP with and that's one of the things I love about this track, we jump right into it, the songs lyrics are relatable and the beat keeps the listener's interest. The singer has the perfect range for this song to keep the techno vibe and have a sort of pop-punk sound at the same time. I like how this song slowly builds from slow and mellow to a breakdown that would get nearly anyone in the mood to dance. I give this track 9.5/10 mainly because of the way the instrumentals really portray what the lyrics are trying to get across. The next track is called "More" which is a very mellow, happy piece. My favorite part about this piece is definitley the instrumentals, everything flows together nicely, and while I do like the vocals for this piece I feel as though the instrumentals and the sound of this song don't quite fit with the lyrics that the singer is trying to get across. On the plus side the song has a beautiful tone to it, I give this track an 8/10. The following track is "Wither", this song has a slower pace and really focuses on the lyrics. It has a lot of meaning to it and is a song where I really feel you should pay attention to the lyrics. It's a song that I feel can be taken multiple ways and have a meaning that is sort of individulized to your thoughts and experiences which always makes for a great song, in my opinion. I feel like it is a song that everyone can kind of relate to which gives this song a 9/10 in my book. Next is "I Will Kill Your Sadness" as soon as the song starts you can feel that definite vibe switch from sad and solem to a more, upbeat (for lack of a better term) sound. This is another song where the instrumental is definitley a big part in the song. The vocals are definitley different in this track which is really nice and refreshing, we also have that repeating of "I will kill your sadness" before each breakdown, which depending on the person, may get a little annoying at times but other than that, the beats are good and all flow together very well, the vocals are refreshingly different from the other tracks and we have those breakdowns which are always great, especially if you're in the car jamming with some subwoofers in the back! I give this track an 8.5/10, it would be a nine but the track can get repeatitive. Moving on we have "Temptress", we go back to that kinda slow, Owl City instrumental. The vocals are different, the singing is faster which is refreshing and we have some screaming in this track which definitley got my atttention! Especially when we haven't seen that yet on this EP! Again we have smooth breakdowns, we have some screaming mixed in (Which definitley will give Social Repose a little Pop-Punk attention!), this song is a little heavier than the rest on the EP which is really cool and different and that is something you definitley look for on an album because hearing the same sound over and over can get quite boring. "Temptress" is definitley something to listen to if you're into heavy stuff but also like the techno vibe as well. This track got a 10/10 from me. Finally the last track is "Breathe Carolina - Sellout (Social Repose Remix)" this track was definitley a little hard to review consider it's technically not Social Repose but I managed. That Social Repose vibe is there in the techno sense and the solid breakdowns, Breathe Carolina is definitley still there but you can tell that Social Repose is there too which is nice because sometimes you lose either the artist or the DJ in the remix but here I didn't feel like I lost either of them. This remix got an 8/10 from me, just because I'm not really a huge remix person but I thought it was pretty good! Until next time, check this EP out on Social Repose's Bandcamp it's called "Crazy Manic Love" (Click here for the link!)

Bands you should know: Social Repose

Social Repose is a one man band from Bethesda, MD. Richie Giese formed Social Repose in 2011 and remains unsigned, he's posted many EPs on his bandcamp and has a massive support system. His Facebook page has 5,079 likes, he's attended Warped Tour, and has played many shows in areas such as New York and Pennsylvania. Knowing Richie or Social Repose, on a semi-personal level, I can tell you he's extremely fan devoted and extremely nice. If you look on his Facebook you'll be sure to notice he posts a lot of short ukulele covers of songs such as "The Drug in Me is You" by Falling In Reverse, "Bacon Pancakes" from Adventure Time, "If You Can't Hang" by Sleeping With Sirens, and more. Social Repose also has a cover of Lana Del Ray's "Summertime Sadness" out on their Bandcamp, he has seven EPs out on his Bandcamp (Link here to all his discography), the most recent being Crazy Manic Love (which will be reviewed here soon) which is six tracks including a remix of Breathe Carolina's "Sellouts". I get good vibes from Social Repose, I'll be sure to keep an eye on him and I'm sure you all will too! The link to the lovely Social Repose Facebook is right here so go give him some love by liking the page!

Bands you should know: Conquer The Oceans!

Conquer The Oceans is a metalcore band based out of Northern Virginia consisting of members Emilio Truitt (vocalist), Sebastian Trudeau (drummer), and John Dolan (guitiarist/back-up vocals). The band is unsigned and is currently recording an EP! The band was founded September 13th, 2013 by John Dolan and previous vocalist. The band has 171 Facebook likes, two YouTube videos (which you can view here), twelve subscribers on YouTube, and they are currently writing an album as well! Also you can find some sneak peeks of their EP work on their Facebook so give them some Facebook love here! Stay tuned to my blog where I will review Conquer The Oceans new EP called Broken Morals and their future album coming soon!

Spooky Casual Reveals Big News!

This morning at 10:30 A.M. Spooky Casual announced a lot of amazing things. The band is releasing their split with Naked through Sunset View Records, Nick Overfelt (Jack Motel) is offically going to be drumming for Spooky Casual (yay!), and that they are going to begin writing an EP soon! Spooky Casual is also looking for a bassist! To qualify you need to be out of high school, have reliable transportation, and have professional gear. If you're interested please contact Spooky Casual here. For all the latest Spooky Casual news stay tuned into Rachel Vanity Reviews: Local Bands!