Stitched Sound’s first print issue!

This is a shot from the blessthefall article I did for Stitched Sound’s first ever print issue. You can purchase the print or digital version over here!  http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/320333

All proceeds from the digital issue will be going towards Jay OBryne’s The Other Side Of The World *A Music Documentary campaign.

Great issue, definitely my favorite so far. Featuring The Word Alive on the cover as well as interviews and interesting reads from iwrestledabearonce, All Time Low, Pierce The Veil, We Came As Romans, Set it Off, Whitechapel, The Devil Wears Prada, Blessthefall, Woe, Is Me, Enter Shikari, My Girl Friday, The Maine and Sleeping With Sirens.

Get on it! HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Rape Culture: Victim-Blaming/”just world” theory.

According to a statistical average over the past 5 years, about 60% of all rapes or sexual assaults in the United States are never reported to the authorities. Most rape cases portray the victims as females and rapists as males. This trend of potential victimization towards females sparked the theory that women have responsibilities for rape and are expected to take care of themselves to avoid being victimized. Three theories that could play a part in explaining rape as a criminal behaviour include the victim-blaming/‘’just world’’ theory, the Darwinian theory of evolution and the Male Peer Support Theory.

Despite the high frequency of rape, many incidents go unreported due to the victim’s fear that she will be blamed for being victimized. One of the central explanations for the phenomenon of blaming the victim is the ‘’just world’’ theory (Lerner, 1980; Lerner & Miller, 1978) According to this theory, people get what they deserve and deserve what they get. A lot of people hold on to this belief as it paints an illusion that they live in a safe world where karma balances and protects the well being of everybody and only bad things befall those who do not play by the book. In the case of rape, a woman who is scantily clad automatically endangers herself to rapists and therefore takes responsibility for not dressing appropriately. This victim-blaming tendency helps restore faith in a controllable environment and gives the blamer a sense of security. The accepted definition of the term ‘’rape myth’’ is that of Lonsway and Fitzgerald (1994): rape myths are false but pervasive beliefs and attitudes aimed at justifying or denying aggression of males against females. Men support rape myths in order to justify sexual violence and women support them to facilitate denial of their potential victimization and responsibility for rape. A widespread acceptance of rape myths has perpetuated victim-blaming and victimization. Specific traits of women like alcohol consumption, sexual background and provocative dressing influence the degree of blame attributed to a victim and these indicators all contribute to maintaining rape myths. Most research has found that men support rape myths to a greater degree than do women and are more forgiving of the rapist. Research also shows that acceptance of rape myths is more prevalent in populations from lower socio-economic backgrounds, older persons and persons who endorse traditional sex roles (Anderson et al., 1997; Johnson et al., 1997; Kooper, 1996; Sinclair & Bourne, 1998)

Victim-blaming and the ‘’just world’’ theory is a major cause of rape as this phenomenon suppresses women of their free will to report their rape and seek justice. The ‘’just world’’ theory instils fear of being labelled, judged and condemned. This fear is highly capable of consuming the victim and leading them to believe that they deserved to be rape. Fear is equivalent to weakness and men prey on weakness. The ‘’just world’’ theory goes hand in hand with rape myths as they rise to justify aggression of males against females. This justification allows men to take on a status of superiority and steer them towards the endorsement of rape. Rape is caused by institutional tolerance and structural violence. The strength of this theory lies in a distorted belief system constructed by human beings based on fear and expectations. The belief system is pre-set by society as a defense mechanism and this twisted logic contributes largely as a cause of rape. As opposed to a biological perspective, the victim-blaming theory is a sociological occurrence that can also be impacted by the media. The mass media reinforce misogynistic attitudes towards women by depicting them in objectifying ways. Women are seen so much as public property, as objects to look at and judge, that people actually think it’s appropriate to go out of their way to comment on women’s appearance. They think it is their right. (Valenti, 2008)

The study of victim blaming and the ‘’just world’’ theory is the most useful perspective in studying causes of rape as it highlights the importance of education. Information reduces stereotyped thinking and thus affects attitudes towards rape culture. Prevalent ideas of blame attribution towards females are contradicted in the evidence of male victims. Males can also be raped and reduced to victimization. Homosexual rape cases would identify the criminal act as deriving from sexual urges and lack of self control. There are no gender-based stereotypes as a female is not involved which therefore leads to no justification on the rapist’s part. This supports the idea that victimization is wrong and the criminal act of rape should not be excused based on patriarchal traditions. Victim blaming causes serious psychological and behavioural consequences. The victim may adopt feelings of helplessness, fear and anxiety, mood disturbance, somatic complains, sexual problems, substance abuse or addiction after being skewed with the mentality that she or he was raped due to something she or he did or failed to do. If one is left untreated in such a state, one might be prone to a long term perspective of a ‘’perpetual victim’’ and will engage in readiness to accept undeserved labelling and punishment. Repeated victimization might occur and traits may be passed down to the next generation and internalized by them. These dire consequences raises moral issues, do we really want our sisters, daughters or anyone to grow up in a society where rape victims are blamed for merely being at the wrong place at the wrong time? There is a need for intensification of educational and informational programs based on this subject that will not only help in burying rape myths and emancipating victims from feelings of shame and guilt, but also encourage them to make a report and stand up for themselves. This will increase the likelihood of rapists getting caught and convicted which will then fulfil the concept of moral rightness. Justice allows victims to seek closure and move on from the trauma.

Some of my favorite shots from the No Guts No Glory Tour @ El Corazon, Seattle.

What are you looking forward to in 2012?

Not only am I expecting 2012 to unravel in its most intense and exciting way possible, I am counting on it to mould my character and paint my life experiences in a whole new picture! I will be heading out to Bamboozle and Warped Tour for the first time in 2012 and since I have never been to a huge music festival before, it’s going to be a feat! The line-up for Bamboozle 2012 is just for a lack of a better word—mind-blowing. Headliners include the Foo Fighters, Blink-182 and Bon Jovi, this festival will be taking place on a beach and that kind of an atmospheric combination does not deserve to be passed up. My plans in between these festivals would include visiting Disneyland for the first time and exploring the wonders of Southern California. I should add that I refuse to use any money from my parents on my music inspired endeavours and thus I shall commit myself to the working life alongside my university hours. My feelings of wanderlust will finally find its fix this summer of 2012. I am also predicting a concert tour in the near future with a name reference to the ‘’End of the World’’. I am very interested to see the eschatological belief of the 2012 phenomenon portrayed in gimmicks and whatnot. There are also a lot of new albums due to be released in 2012 and some of the bands of which I’m most looking forward to are Pierce The Veil, The Used, The Word Alive, Black Cards as well as the new Emarosa album following the departure of Jonny Craig. Lastly, I am also looking forward to the highly anticipated release of Blink-182’s documentary film ‘’The Blinkumentary’’.

2012 is already shaping up to look like another good year for music.

Hollywood Undead Interview.

Phone interview with J-Dog from Hollywood Undead.

Published on Stitched Sound, November 23rd : http://stitchedsound.com/?p=3822

I was watching old interviews of the band on Youtube and it got me feeling slightly nervous as this was my first interview with a band of their genre and intensity. It actually turned out to be a really chill and successful one, I had a lot of fun doing it.

What is Hollywood Undead all about? What made you decide to start a band?

We’re all about Brown pride y’know, our folks are Mexicans –no, I’m just kidding (laughs) We’re just trying to make money and have a good time at the same time, pretty much living the American dream right now.

How much do you think you guys have grown musically since the formation of the band?

It’s one of those things where you write your first album, your first song and you tend to hate them as you grow older. A lot of bands say they hate their first record but they like the 4^th or 5^th one. We’re like that but I feel like a lot of things have changed since the beginning.

You’re currently on tour with Asking Alexandria, We Came As Romans, D.R.U.G.S, and other bands. What has it been like so far?

It’s been great. Our band does better with metal bands. It’s cool to tour with bands I listen to so I have more fun every night watching them get worked up.

How would you describe the atmosphere when you guys are on stage performing a show?

A lot of alcohol, a lot of good vibes and a whole lot of fun going on. We just try to put on as good of a show as possible. We drink before shows and we hang out with each other. Metal songs blasting out of our throats for hours straight, people enjoy it.

Do you guys interact with the crowd?

Yeah, I mean like half the dudes in our band jump into the crowd, they crowd surf and we’re always trying to interact with the crowd because I think it’s boring when a band gets on stage and play the show like the crowd isn’t even there. We try to have fun and interact with the crowd 100%.

Have any tour pranks happened yet? Are you planning on pulling any towards the end of the tour?

No, I’ve always heard that but I’ve never seen it. I think it died in the 80s, I think people are more sensitive nowadays.

Really? I’ve actually heard a lot of stories of bands pranking one another on tour.

Well, it never happened to us. Everyone in my band is like 6 foot tall and we’re like bigger dudes so no one’s ever pranked us before (laughs) We do it to each other but not to other bands.

What’s the weirdest thing a fan has ever said or asked you to do?

 A 16 year old girl asked us to have group sex with her. I felt kinda weird like I should call her mum or something.

So you know how bands are always going through interviews and they have to face the same questions over and over again. What are some interview questions you find most annoying?

The mask. People ask us why we wear masks and we have answered that question like a thousand times. I think Corey from Slipknot said more bands should wear masks or I don’t know, someone said that. I really don’t think wearing a mask is that big of a deal, it’s just entertainment like people are all ‘’why do you wear a mask?’’ like who fucking knows.

You guys are releasing a remix album in a couple of days. How did that idea come about?

We wanted to come up with new music, keep people’s attention. We listen to remix albums of other bands and artists as well and we thought to ourselves that we’ve never done anything like that before so we just thought it was a good idea.

Do you have any tattoo stories you’d like to share?

Oh fuck. I have a friend from Canada who has a rock on his arm that says USA. He fell asleep while he was getting tattooed so my other friend tattooed USA across his arm and now he’s back in Canada with that tattoo, it’s pretty funny.

What are your recording and writing process usually like?

The band usually individually writes and then we bring each of our songs and collaborate on them. One person has an idea and they come together with everyone else on it. On our bus, we have a mobile recording set up. Everyone jumps in with input. Everyone writes lyrics but with different styles. Charlie Scene writes like fun and party songs, Johnny 3 Tears write dark and heavier songs, everyone kinda does their own thing.

The genre of your band is really interesting. What kind of music did you guys listen to growing up?

Growing up, I listened to a lot of 90s hip hop. Typical west coast stuff like Dr. J, Eazy- E, some of the other guys in the band listened to Nine Inch Nails. As I got older at around 16, I started to get into more metal and rock. It was kind of the opposite really, most people grow up listening to rock while I listened to rap and switched over afterwards.

If you were a character in a movie or a show, who would you be?

Peter Griffin from Family Guy because he’s a fat piece of shit. (laughs) Ahh, I don’t know. I saw a Halloween costume the other day and someone was Kickass, that movie was cool. I’d probably be Bart Simpson. I have a slingshot, I bring it on tour and I shoot bottles on it so people call me Bart Simpson.

So you guys are going on The Buried Alive tour soon. How does it feel to share the stage with national acts such as Avenged Sevenfold?

It’s cool for us. They’re from the same area we’re from and they’re some of the nicest dudes I’ve ever met. It’s humbling to meet a band the size of they are who wants you to tour with them so the whole experience is really cool for us.

What are some hobbies you guys have?

We all do different shit. I skateboard a lot. A lot of the things you do on the road to keep yourself sane, some of us draw, some of us write music on the side. I have a horror website I just started to keep myself busy. It’s called scaredornot.com. I’m into comedy so I take the lighter side of horror and make like fake news. It’s kinda like The Onion but with hormones or getting erected, something funny like that.

If you could choose any profession outside of being a musician, what would it be?

That’s probably the best question I’ve ever had because I ask myself that every day. Oh god, I could be in a band forever. I want to be a fisherman because I’m staring at a lake right now so I’d probably enjoy fishing. (laughs) I don’t know, I can’t think of anything, I’ll be in another band is what I would do.

Sweet! Thanks for your time, I hope you have a great day.

Redlight King Interview.

So I managed to have a little chat with Redlight King’s lead singer, Kaz over the phone a few days ago about his music, influences, inspirations and life on tour.

Growing up, what influenced you musically? Was there a certain band or artist who sparked your interest in music?

My dad listens to a lot of Blues so I listen to a lot of Blues when I was really young. Johnny Hooker, B.B King, Robert Johnson, Little Walter, Big Walter. I also had a John Lennon record, a Beatles record. There was always music around my house growing up. When I was in high school, I listened to a lot of early 90s Hip Hop and then I started to listen to more Rock when I got older. I’m influenced by a bit of everything. I was always more of a song guy, I didn’t listen to records so much but I love making my own playlists.

What first made you decide to want to become a musician and do this for a living?

I don’t think there’s anything else I would rather do to be honest. I think maybe at the end of the day, it was decision by default (laughs). I had a lot of iron in the fire and I was good at a few things, I was a fighter and I sing. I tried to have a career in fighting and music at the same time and music just took over.

Do you find that the way you were brought up influenced you greatly as a musician?

Yeah! It influences the way I write songs, definitely.

Is there a theme or concept throughout your latest album ‘’Something for the Pain’’ that you would like to share?

There’s definitely a concept and the concept is very simply that the songs are real and relatable to my own life. I don’t think there’s any daylight between my lyrics and my music and myself. This record especially was something necessary, something I needed to write.

Do you have a favorite song off the album and was there a song you felt was the hardest to write?

I think the song that was most difficult to write was ‘’When the Dust Settled Down’’ and the song that started off for me was ‘’Something for the Pain.’’ Every time I listen to it, it’s still fresh to me. It’s the lead song off the record. That song sparked the whole project.

Where does your inspiration to write music come from?

It comes from all around. I’m fortunate enough to travel the world and have a few different shots at life. People around me inspire situations and stories, I write songs about the human conditional and I like to tell stories.

You trained in Judo for the Olympics. How did not making the Olympics team affect the way you wrote music? 

It didn’t affect the way I write music at all. I mean knowing what failure feels like and stuff, it is a real misfortunate thing for all of us and I think that sparked a few songs in a general discontent for how we feel about life but that’s part of life.

How differently do you think your life would be if you had made the team? 

 (laughs) That is a good question. I can’t answer that.

If you could perform with any musician dead or alive, who would it be and why?

 Oh man, I don’t know, there are so many good musicians. I’d still like to play with Neil. Neil Young would be sweet. It’s hard to say really, I was a huge Johnny Hooker fan so that would be neat.

You are currently on tour with Everlast. What has it been like for you so far?

It’s been a great experience. It’s just been amazing connecting with the audience. Being on tour with Everlast and having mutual respect for one another has given our band confidence to go out there and do our job every night.

What are some shenanigans you guys get up to on tour?

We have this thing called ‘’Sprinter Fever’’. When you’re doing long drives in a huge truck, it’s called a sprinter. Our sprinter, we named him Moose. So after Moose goes for about 4-5 hours, it starts to get a little nuts and hell breaks loose and we start to crash the sprinter. There are always 1 or 2 things a day that are memorable. Julian, our guitar player is really good at citing examples of that stuff whereas for me it kinda flies by but we’re having a great time. It’s all rock and roll.

Is there a country or place you would really like to visit and play a show?

 We often talk about Japan because a lot of the bands we tour with think it’s great out there but I would say this is our home, we’re from here and this is the most important. Our songs are most relatable to people from America and Canada so we haven’t thought about it too much. We have been approached possibly to play in Afghanistan which is something I would love to do. One day we’ll go play for the troops and give back.

What inspired your music video for “Bullet in My Hand”?

 The video was inspired by my grandfather. He was in the Polish Air Force. He was the squadron leader and he flew The Lancaster Bomber. The song was also inspired from World War II and I just thought it would be cool to intertwine the concepts of us having a performance video with a little story of characters going through hell but decide to go out and keep fighting.

What is a hobby that you or anyone in the band have that people might be surprised to learn about?

I would say hot rods although I don’t think people would be surprised to learn about it because I’m a hot rodder. There is only a little bit of time when we’re not working and I take that time to work on my motorcycle and I’m working on a hot rod right now, It’s called a Lincoln Zephyr. That’s my only other passion. Jules is a musician through and through, he and Ken just like to chill out so I don’t know, you’ll have to ask those guys.

I will, someday! We’ve come to the end of the interview, thank you so much for your time!

Thank you. It was nice talking to you, bye bye.

Check out the music video for ”Bullet in my Hand” below.

Album Review: You Me At Six – Sinners Never Sleep

Hailing from Surrey, UK based rock band You Me at Six comes forth with their third album, Sinners Never Sleep. Sharing Biffy Clyro and Rage Against the Machine’s producer, Garth Richardson, this record proves versatility as they coat the abundance of riffs throughout the 12 new tracks with signs of maturity and refreshing boldness. The band has obviously taken a different direction as the album’s heavier style blends in with fitting screaming vocals from Oliver Sykes of Bring Me The Horizon and Parkway Drive’s Winston McCall on two songs. Instead of taking a formal step forward, these boys have departed from their pop-punk grounds and have taken a surprising leap into the distance as they concoct their own mixture of pop/rock/post-hardcore. The familiar bouncy vibe in the album’s opener ‘Loverboy’ highlights the album’s theme as it displays the distinctive bridge of their sound.  With taunting lyrics like ‘’I might be proud but at least I’m proud of something, you’ve taken pride in becoming nothing.’’ In ‘Bite My Tongue’ and the ironic line ‘’ “Life’s a bitch, but I’m friends with her sister” in ‘Jaws on the Floor’, the album tackles elements of assertiveness, resentment and love. It also shows how the band have grown after going through a dark time in their career. ‘Little Death’ slides in slowly before soaring into the chorus. ‘Crash’ then announces itself as a soft ballad eliminating the pop-punk strings as it takes on a passionate love story.

The only other time a band I’ve previously dismissed as an interest have surprised me and converted me to a fan was when Bring Me The Horizon released There Is a Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is a Heaven, Let’s Keep It a Secret. Both bands have traded vocals on each of their new records and created an interesting atmosphere for fans to delve into.

By Roxanne Asthenia