Category: Artist Profile

Train – Top 20 Songs

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic7 Comments

Train holds a very special place in my heart.  Mainly due to the fact it is the one band my wife and I enjoy together.  We have seen them in concert at least 4 or 5 times and twice we took our kids.  For my wife and I, there is just something special about their songs and their music.

Train Meet & GreetWe like them so much we even paid for the Meet & Greet on one of their tours as an anniversary present for ourselves.  They were extremely pleasant and gracious.  If you haven’t seen them live, you must. Pat Monahan is a great frontman as he is energetic, funny and he makes you feel like you are part of the show.

We also like them because my brother-in-law was the recording engineer on their Drops of Jupiter album for which he received a Grammy nomination (he didn’t win).  Maybe I can get him to tell us about that experience for another time.

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Gotthard / Steve Lee – Artist Profile

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Gotthard is a rock band out of Switzerland and sadly never got much, if any, airplay here in the states. This is another band I was introduced to thanks to the website Melodicrock.com.  I don’t think I would have ever heard of them otherwise, and I would have missed out on a great band.

The band was started back in the early 90’s and they have gone on to be one of the top selling bands in Switzerland. I believe at one time, the top selling was a little known band named Krokus.  Who doesn’t love Krokus.

Gotthard Lee 2010

The moving force behind Gotthard was the lead singer Steve Lee.  He had such an amazing voice and he could rock out or sing a heartfelt ballad.  He had a little raspiness in his voice and his vocals brought so much passion and life to these songs it gave you an instant connection to them.

Sadly, in October 2010, Steve Lee was killed in a freak accident when he was on a motorcycle tour in the U.S.  I still remember when I heard the news and I can say I was truly upset.  I spent the next few days listening to their albums non-stop.

The band has gone on to replace Steve with a new lead singer, but it is not the same.  The band I am writing about here is specifically the era of Steve Lee.

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Thriving Ivory / Midnight Cinema – Artist Profile

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I guess you are getting a two-for-one artist profile.  As I am doing a profile on Thriving Ivory & Midnight Cinema.  No, they are not the same band even though they have most of the same bandmates.  The difference is explained below.  They are both great Pop/Rock bands and that voice of Clayton Stroupe is amazing.

Thriving Ivory

Thriving Ivory was based out of California and consisted of  Clayton Stroope, Drew Cribley, and Paul Niedermier.  Clayton’s voice is very unique. I believe it is one of those you either love it, or hate it.  Me, I love it. It gives them their own unique sound and different is always good.

The band’s first album, Thriving Ivory, came out in 2008 and contained their biggest hit “Angels on the Moon”.  I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it.  iTunes was offering the video for free one week and that was how I came across the song.  The song went on to go Gold selling over 500,000 singles.

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Matt Nathanson – Artist Profile

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Matt Nathanson 2014

My first artist profile is of singer/songwriter Matt Nathanson. I discovered his music when I was listening to an internet radio station. His song “Come on Get Higher” came on and I was instantly drawn to it and wanted to hear more by him. I went and bought the album “Some Mad Hope” and from that point on I was hooked and now a life long fan.

Matt has been around playing since the early 90’s and his first album came out in 1993. I believe I read somewhere that it was songs he had written in high school. I would describe his early stuff as indie/college style music. When I would listen to his older stuff I have to admit I didn’t particular care for his albums in the 90’s, but that is not to say you wouldn’t like it. For me, it is just not something that spoke to me.

But somewhere around 2002 and his E.P. – “When Everything Meant Everything” his songwriting and sound started to click. I could get into these songs. They started speaking to me. Each album after spoke to me more and more and I believe he has hit his stride and his writing and his storytelling just get better and better.

One interesting thing about Matt is he is a closet Metal Head which I think is so cool as his music is far from it. He is a big fan of a lot of the rock acts I grew up with and even appeared on That Metal Show.

I have had the pleasure of seeing him live three times now. Sadly, every time I have seen him, he has been an opening act. I hope to change that one day and see him as the headliner. He and his band sound great live and he has such great stage presence and can really draw in a crowd.

The last time I saw him he was the opening act for Train here in Charlotte at the PNC Pavillion. When he came out the crowd was still filling in and not really there to see him. The way he works the crowd is something to see. His style and brand of humor between songs is magnificent. By the end of his set, the entire arena were on their feet screaming and loving every minute of his performance. They left that night knowing what Matt Nathanson was all about.

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