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INTERVIEW: Alex Solowitz Says 2Ge+her’s Comeback Continues with Teaser Show

April 21, 2012 in 2gether, alex solowitz, audio, boy bands, exclusive, interview with 1 Comment

As reunited boy bands like New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys continue to tour the globe, other boy bands like 98 Degrees contemplate a reunion, and new boy bands like The Wanted and One Direction find success in the States, there is yet another group that is still plotting its comeback.

“We’re in the process of getting [the reunion] green-lit by MTV,” Alex Solowitz revealed to me on “The Ralphie Radio Show.” Alex played Mickey Parke in the faux-boy band 2Ge+her. Yes, the reunion you heard about last November still has a very real chance of happening. “We have all the original songwriters… everybody is on board. All the producers that we had are on board.”

It seems as if the last piece in the puzzle is the network. Solowitz said MTV likes the idea, and is just waiting to see how much more interest the guys can generate.

“I think there’s a good place for us at MTV,” Solowitz said. “We can have some pregnant teenagers, if they want. We can get some ‘Jersey Shore’ dudes too.”

Nice to see that Solowitz hasn’t lost his sense of humor or that edge that his character Mickey displayed over 10 years ago with 2Gether. Noah Bastian, Evan Farmer, and Kevin Farley are also on tap for the reunion. Michael Cuccione passed away after a battle with cancer in 2001. He died just eight days after his 16th birthday. Solowitz said in a previous interview that a portion of the proceeds from the group’s return would benefit Cuccione’s foundation. And one of those performances is right around the corner.

“We’re doing a little teaser show May 4 at the Jon Lovitz [Comedy Club],” Solowitz said. “Evan can’t make it because he’s having a baby, he’s got a new born coming.”

Who would’ve thought that you plus me would end up equaling a baby?

INTERVIEW: ‘X-Factor’ Finalist Chris Rene Nears Finish of L.A. Reid-Assisted Album

April 19, 2012 in audio, Chris Rene, exclusive, interview, la reid, new music, rrs video, the x-factor with 2 Comments

How hands-on is Antonio “L.A.” Reid with the artists on Epic Records? In the case of “The X-Factor” finalist Chris Rene, very.

“It’s track by track,” Rene said of the Chairman and CEO of the label’s involvement with his forthcoming album. “It’s like, I’m not going to make a track that I’m not happy with or that I don’t think represents me fully. He wants the same thing.”

From a technical standpoint, the formula worked because Rene is only a track away from the LP’s completion. The singer believes the album does represent him as a whole, for both better and worse.

“It’s not just all going to be one thing,” Rene said of the song content. “It’s going to be a mixture of all kinds of different things… the highs and the lows.”

Rene has experienced both during his career, which started as a young teen. His path took a detour when he became a trash collector in his hometown of Santa Cruz, California. Then, he battled a drug addiction that landed him in rehab. But just 10 weeks after exiting the program, Rene found himself auditioning for a show that would yield his big break.

“It’s been a trip,” Rene said succinctly. “Going on to ‘The X-Factor,’ coming off, signing with Epic… it’s crazy, it’s a whole another life.”

The singer isn’t trying to exit stage right from the lifestyle anytime soon either – his track “Young Homie” is gaining traction and available on iTunes now, and his almost-finished album should drop before the end of the year.

By the way, Rene plans on keeping his personal lifestyle intact as well. His one-year sobriety anniversary is April 20.

INTERVIEW: It Keeps Getting Busier, and Better, for Hot Chelle Rae

April 18, 2012 in audio, exclusive, hot chelle rae, ian keaggy, interview, jamie follese, nash overstreet, rrs video, ryan follese, taylor swift with 1 Comment

Hot Chelle Rae seems pleasantly surprised at how well the band’s career continues to progress.

“It’s everything that we thought it would be, but it’s also surprising at the same time,” lead singer Ryan Follese told me backstage over the weekend. Hot Chelle Rae was on one of its many sold out stops for the “Beautiful Freaks” tour. “To be able to have this job and have it take us to the places we’re going, it’s incredible.”

Case in point: the band recently wrapped a tour through Australia and New Zealand supporting fellow Nashville musician Taylor Swift. Follese said the band and Swift simply had one of “those moments.”

“We were on this boat with Taylor, and we were all just sitting there, trolling about in Sydney Harbor,” the front man recalled. “I was actually standing next to Taylor, and I was like, ‘This job is amazing.’”

Swift concurred.

“As big as she is, she knows too,” Follese said. “The fans are unreal. This whole thing is just incredible.”

Guitarist Nash Overstreet used similar adjectives to describe the tour itself.

“They’re very, very polite and welcoming,” Overstreet noted of the band’s New Zealand fans. “They’re stoked that you’re in their country, they’re stoked that you’re playing.”

But the fans overseas didn’t just make HCR feel welcome by acting as tour guides during the day, or using “please” and “thank you” when asking for photos.

“They knew every word to every song, not just the singles,” Overstreet said. “It gives us a validation of songs we wrote that haven’t been on the radio yet, and to see them fall in love with those is really cool.”

Hot Chelle Rae has charted two tracks from Whatever on pop radio, and a third could be on the way with “Honestly,” a break-up anthem with a music video that features “Pretty Little Liars” star Ashley Benson.

“I think somebody from a show like that is always a really cool edge to add to the video,” Follese said of Benson’s role as his eventual ex-girlfriend. “We reached out to her and she was down to do it.”

Of course, it wasn’t that simple. The actress was getting ready to shoot a movie, and HCR was on tour. All parties involved found one 24 hour window to film. The final piece took 17 hours. Benson left after for her movie; Hot Chelle Rae flew to Australia the next day.

In the end, the guys found a way to make it work. You can’t be surprised at that.

INTERVIEW: Sirah Talks ‘Cult’; Explains How She Recorded Vocals for Skrillex’s ‘Bangarang’

April 12, 2012 in audio, exclusive, interview, new music, Sirah, skrillex with 1 Comment

West coast emcee Sirah semi-jokes that she was dropping rhymes “before it was cool to rap as a small white girl.”

“Now it’s like the ‘in’ thing,” Sirah noted. “I definitely feel like I can hold it down for myself since I’ve been doing it when it wasn’t so widely appreciated.”

But now that it is, Sirah hopes that she can parlay her talents in to a major label deal, of course without sacrificing her artistic integrity in the process.

“I’ve been meeting with people, doing things; but it’s all talk until its real,” she said. “I don’t need anybody to do anything for me.”

The rapper has done fairly well – touring for the past seven years and supporting acts such as Wu-Tang Clan, KRS-One, and Dilated Peoples in the process. But recently Sirah has found new fame with her feature on the Skrillex track “Bangarang.”

“Skrillex has been one of my best friends for probably like, six years,” she said. “We’ve had a few songs together.”

It seems their work comes together spontaneously. The first time they collaborated, Sirah was writing her own music in a downtown Los Angeles artist loft that Skrillex also lived in. The producer simply asked the emcee if she could rap lyrics of the song she was working on in to his laptop. That yielded the track “Weekends!!!”

Then, while Skrillex was on tour, he called Sirah about another track.

“He was like, ‘Hey can you record 16 bars and send it to me,’” she recalled. “I was like, ‘Do you want me to go to me studio?’ He was like, ‘No, no, no. Do it right now.’”

So Sirah grabbed her laptop and recorded the vocals that would be used for “Bangarang.” She did this while sitting in her bed.

“You can actually hear the birds chirping in the background,” Sirah said. “It’s somewhat mortifying to me.”

Still, not only does the rapper consider the dubstep DJ a close friend, but she also places him in an elite group professionally.

“There’s only three people I really like recording or doing things with because I trust what will come out of it,” she revealed. “He definitely put some effects and did some stuff, and some compression [to my voice].”

It probably explains while she feels it’s “unfortunate” that people can find some of her past, more pop-friendly stuff on YouTube. It might also shed light on why despite the years of recording and touring, Cult is her first official mixtape. But timing is everything. Thankfully for Sirah, mixtapes are the new album, and we hear it’s pretty cool to rap as a small, white female these days.

INTERVIEW: Deena Nicole Cortese Doesn’t Know What to Expect on ‘Jersey Shore’ Season 6

April 12, 2012 in audio, deena cortese, exclusive, interview, jersey shore, mohegan sun, rrs video, snooki with 0 Comments

Despite Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi’s pregnancy, MTV “Jersey Shore” producers have not asked Deena Cortese to recruit any new members for “Team Meatball.”

“We find out as much as everyone else does,” Cortese told me before her appearance inside Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs. “I honestly don’t know what I’m walking in to.”

The cast returns to Seaside Heights this summer to film season six of the hit reality show. In addition to Snooki’s forthcoming child, Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino just finished a stint in rehab.

“Nicole is supposedly coming down,” the “blast in a glass” said. “I mean she probably won’t be drinking with me. But, Nicole and her personality, me and my personality, you don’t even need alcohol to have a good time.”

Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. Surely regardless of Snooki’s soberness, there will be plenty of the usual shenanigans that fans of “Jersey Shore” have come to expect. Deena did say that she also expects that some of her friends will visit while she’s in the house.

“Give me music and a bar, and I’ll just dance on it really,” Cortese continued, attempting to convince me that she doesn’t need liquor to party.

There is one thing that the “walking holiday” definitely can do without: her cell phone. This is definite, because all phones are confiscated once taping commences. Cortese revealed that the cast’s isolation from the outside world can sometimes benefit it.

“Say you’re on your cell phone and something happens outside the house, and it completely changes your mood; like [the producers] don’t want that to happen,” she explained. “My first time I was in the house, thank God they kept all that stuff away. No one knew about me… and they were trying to find every skeleton in my closet, and all these lies were going on about me throughout the media. But I had no idea so I was completely fine in the house.”

Deena has certainly adapted to life in the spotlight – accumulating over a million followers on Twitter in the process. Her boyfriend of seven months however, prefers to stay away from the cameras, and may not be seen regularly on the upcoming season.

“He’s not really in to the limelight, and people knowing about his business,” Cortese said of her beau, Chris Buckner. “Hopefully he does [come to visit], even just to get lunch or something.”

Cortese assures though that despite her relationship status, she is still the same partier that viewers have come to both love and loathe.

“I’m the same blast in a glass, he knows I’m a meatball,” she said. “As long as I don’t cheat on him, me and him will be fine, and I would never cheat on him.”

But, for better or worse, what happens in Seaside Heights ends up on MTV. So one way or the other, we’ll all get to see if Deena is true to her word next season.

INTERVIEW: Maino Teams With YuuZoo to Launch His Own Social Network

April 12, 2012 in audio, exclusive, interview, Maino, rrs video, yuuzoo with 0 Comments

Musical artists are constantly using different social networks to interact with fans, from Facebook and Twitter to Instagram and Tumblr. But some artists, such as Maino, are putting a different twist on the approach. The rapper teamed up with YuuZoo to launch his own social platform. He celebrated its launch last week inside Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club.

“It doesn’t take the place of Facebook, it actually works in accordance with it,” Maino explained. “You have all of this information in one [site], instead of having to log on and jump to different sites.”

In addition to fans of Maino’s finding the network as a “one stop shop” for all things pertaining to the artist, the emcee also benefits in having his own outlet to communicate with his supporters.

“Now I can promote directly; my tour dates, whatever project I’m working on, whatever single it is, anything I’m doing outside of music,” he said. “Everything will be updated. Everything is there for the fans to see.”

The Brooklyn-bred rhymer has a lot to talk about with his fans these days. His last album, Day After Tomorrow, dropped in February and spawned two Top 20 singles. Maino plans to release an EP, Still Unstoppable, this summer.

INTERVIEW: Mike Posner Helps Justin Bieber Evolve His Sound; Reveals New Direction for ‘Sky High’

April 3, 2012 in audio, exclusive, interview, justin bieber, mike posner, new music with 1 Comment

When people think of Justin Bieber, a number of different opinions may come to mind. Some may still see him as the teenager who packed malls across America past their fire codes. Others might immediately associate Bieber with his girlfriend, actress/singer Selena Gomez. But for Mike Posner, the teen star is simply a “really cool kid.”

“Justin is 18 now, so the kid that I went in to the studio with is like, buddies with Lil Wayne,” Posner explained during a sit-down interview with “The Ralphie Radio Show.” “He like, skateboards with Weezy.”

So how do you convey that image to the public, while not alienating the millions of teens who adore The Biebs? Posner feels they achieved just that with “Boyfriend.”

“My goal was to make something that me and my friends could put on in the car, smoke and drive to, and chill to,” he said. “But also, not abandon this amazing and gigantic fan base that he’s built thus far.”

So Posner co-wrote and co-produced the track, which serves as the lead single from Bieber’s forthcoming album, Believe.

“I’m just honored to be a part of the Bieber project,” Posner said. “He’s such a high profile artist that he really has the opportunity to change where music is and push it in a new direction, and I think that’s exactly what he’s doing with his new album.”

Speaking of different directions and new music, Posner himself is in the midst of writing and recording his sophomore LP, Sky High. The “Cooler Than Me” singer revealed that the album is about 75 percent complete.

“The sound of the record, and the emotion of the record, and the tone of the record; I’m not rapping, I’m singing, but it grows out of hip-hop,” he said of the project. “There’s a lot of soul in the record, and there’s not a lot of synths and techno-beats.”

The album’s first single, “Looks Like Sex,” will be about as “dance-y” as the new material gets. Posner did create a track in studio with David Guetta, however that will not make the LP. The Duke University grad did note that Pharrell Williams, Big Sean, and J. Cole will all contribute to the final piece, due out before the end of the year.

INTERVIEW: From Campus DJ to Celebrity Party Rocker: Jesse Marco Talks New Single, ‘Project X’

March 29, 2012 in audio, dj am, exclusive, interview, Jesse Marco, Mark Ronson with 0 Comments

There was a time, not too awfully long ago, when Jesse Marco would lug crates of his music across the snowy campus of Syracuse University to DJ… well, anywhere. Bar gigs, sorority formals, college radio stations – the setting, location, and clientele didn’t matter to Marco – so long as he was able to do what he loved: mixing music.

“I love the act of dee-jaying so much,” Marco professed during a phone interview Wednesday on “The Ralphie Radio Show.” “At the end of the day, none of that stuff matters to me.”

The “stuff” Marco refers to is the celebrity that he has found and that has found him over the past few years, as his career has astronomically taken off. The native-New Yorker transferred out of Syracuse and in to the New York music scene. There, he linked up with the likes of the late DJ AM and Mark Ronson. Now, Marco regularly spins at the hottest night clubs in the world, and is hired by or performs for almost any A-list celebrity you can think of at the moment. And while it ultimately may not matter, it certainly doesn’t hurt that Marco is now one of the top club DJ’s in the game. After all, if he wasn’t at that club out west almost two years ago, he may not have landed his first blockbuster film.

“I was playing a show in LA, and one of the producers from ‘The Hangover’ was there,” Marco recalled. “He came up to me and was like, ‘Hey, we got this part in this movie and you’d be perfect for it.’ And I was like, ‘What? Okay, sure.’”

A month later, Marco was on the set of “Project X,” having the time of his life as he played a DJ to one of the biggest fictional parties ever thrown. Released earlier this month, the movie is one of the biggest and most talked about productions of 2012.

“I’m happy to bridge the gap a little bit now, and sort of move in to the more musical aspect of the business of dee-jaying,” Marco said. “At the end of the day, it’s awesome playing for certain people, and I want people to hear my music.”

Like many other DJ’s you currently hear on the radio, Marco is making the transition by exiting the clubs and entering the studio. Last month he released “Daddy Cool,” his first single on Big Beat/Atlantic Records.

“The [Electronic Dance Music] thing is really big right now, and it’s not slowing down,” Marco stated. “I can’t deny that it’s helping the DJ scene.”

But while “Daddy Cool” may be a foot-moving, fist-pumping friendly record, don’t write it off as just another dance track. Marco, who regularly fuses a plethora of genres in his live set, reworked the 1976 Boney M. disco hit of the same title.

“I was like, ‘Why is nobody sampling ‘Daddy Cool?’’” Marco asked himself after hearing a couple other DJ’s sample the disco band. “That is the quintessential, at least for me, Boney M. track.”
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On “Daddy Cool”:

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So, Marco took the original in to the studio and left with his own modern-day take on the record. He believes the new version is versatile, and mass appeal is not something the DJ is shying from.

“I feel like some people are on like some, ‘Oh don’t sell out. Screw the commercial stuff,’” Marco admits. “Like, I want people to hear my records.”

And if Marco’s career continues its rapid trajectory, they’ll be hearing his music, regardless of if they’re at a college campus or a club, sooner rather than later.

INTERVIEW: Cady Groves Jokes with Hot Chelle Rae’s Nash Overstreet; Performs New Single

March 28, 2012 in audio, Cady Groves, exclusive, hot chelle rae, interview, nash overstreet, rrs video with 0 Comments

I honestly don’t know what is more compelling: the stories Cady Groves tells, or the manner in which she tells them. Regardless, the 22 year-old is quite the character.

Here’s one example: the Oklahoma-bred singer is currently supporting Hot Chelle Rae’s headlining tour. Groves and HCR guitarist Nash Overstreet are tight – and when I called Nash during my interview with Cady, I found out exactly how tight.

“Nash and I, we like to play this thumping game, where we thump each other’s genitalia,” Groves revealed in studio, thankfully with the delay button working. “I thump his peen, and he thumps my V.”

You can’t make these quotes up. But back to the original point, it isn’t just the stories that make you laugh, cringe, or in some cases both – but the fact that Groves will rattle this stuff off to semi-strangers the way you talk about walking your dog or shopping for groceries.

“We like to play games where [Nash] is hungover on his bus, and I go and talk to him,” Groves continued. “And he pretends it’s food poisoning.”

“She got the band member wrong,” Overstreet shot back – eliciting “oohs” and laughter from the studio. The guitarist had just returned with his group from Australia and New Zealand, opening up for Taylor Swift.

Now HCR will tour the States with Groves and her stories in tow. She has plenty of tales, and not all of them are about anal sex (“I talk about that all the time”) or her bra size (“I’ll end tweets with, ‘#BCup’). No, some are actually quite serious. Like the one when she fell in love with a producer, only to find out that he was living a double life.

“I told my label (RCA) like, ‘I wanna make my whole album with this guy,’” Groves recalled of the 35 year-old producer. The singer linked up with him when she was 21. “We started looking at apartments together, and I literally thought I was going to spend the rest of my life with him.”

Everything unraveled when the producer uncharacteristically showed up late to a recording session one day. While Groves was actually making apologies for the guy, the engineer unknowingly dropped a bomb on the singer, revealing that the producer lived out in Santa Monica… with his wife.

“My life literally came crumbling down,” she said. “He got there that day, I called his wife, she ended up being like 40 [years-old].”

The producer and artist parted ways, and Groves retreated in to a deep depression. Then, RCA Records came calling, wondering what was happening to their once promising pop starlet.

“My label was like, ‘Dude, get out of bed. Write an album about this guy,’” Groves said. “Everything kind of stemmed from that.”

That album is an EP – This Little Girl – and is available on iTunes now.

INTERVIEW: Karmin Contemplated Covering Whitney on ‘SNL’; Explains ‘Cheerio’ Line in ‘Brokenhearted’

March 27, 2012 in audio, exclusive, interview, karmin, rrs video, saturday night live, whitney houston with 0 Comments

Amy Heidemann idolized Whitney Houston as a child. She can remember singing along to Houston’s hits, attempting to mimic those massive vocal runs. The Berklee graduate dreamt that one day she could become as famous as the icon.

Little did Heidemann know as a child growing up in Nebraska that a weird twist of fate would prevent her from ever meeting Houston. Yet, this same twist would position the superstar uniquely in her fan’s career and life.

Heidemann and fiancé Nick Noonan have gained fame as the duo Karmin. First, it was their cover of Chris Brown’s “Look at Me Now.” The video went viral on YouTube to the tune of over 60 million views. An appearance on “Ellen” and a national media tour followed, and then Epic Records called. Now Karmin is touring the country to promote its single, “Brokenhearted,” which is off the group’s debut album, due out this spring.

The night of February 11, Karmin was preparing to perform “Brokenhearted” on “Saturday Night Live.” About two hours prior to show time in New York, news broke from Los Angeles that Houston had been found dead in her hotel room. Heidemann revealed on “The Ralphie Radio Show” that before the show, there was talk backstage about the duo paying tribute to the fallen star by covering one of her songs, as they had done with so many other artists on the band’s YouTube channel.

“[Houston’s] like covering Adele, or The Beatles; it’s really difficult to tackle something like that,” she explained. “We decided not to in the end of it.”

Heidemann clarified that when Karmin does attempt to perform a tough song, it usually comes with modifications.

“I mean, we did a couple of [Adele’s], but we changed them so much,” she said. “We weren’t like karaoke Adele; we changed the arrangement to fit our style.”

Karmin’s style is captivating fans worldwide. The group’s break out original single, “Brokenhearted,” is receiving airplay on radio stations across the country. It is an up-tempo track with a bittersweet plot.

“I was in the studio and I’m talking about taking Patron shots, alone, waiting for the phone to ring,” Heidemann recalled of the recording session for the single. “It’s tense, and all of the sudden, [the producers] were like, ‘Just improvise on this next take.’ And I was like, ‘Uh, cheerio!’”

Alas, a catchphrase which would be used throughout the entire song was born. Thankfully for Heidemann, the only thing she has to wait for in her personal life is to set a wedding date with Noonan. Perhaps not so thankfully for him, Noonan’s fiancée is actually quite the fan of tequila (“in responsible amounts” she insists). Cheerio.

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