The Hard Rock Lunch Box

This week on the BOX...  DJ is in a hurry and has to bounce by 1, so.... GO!

He talks about how "awesome" NUTUYU V is gonna be, and how he's starting to get nervous about all the buzz surrounding it, how Off The Turnpike was all the way back at NUTUYU TU and what "Trip McNeely" has to do with any of this.  He's also considering releasing a special "super fan" download of R9 demos, rarities and outtakes but is concerned about their distribution getting out of control.  And his daughter is graduating from 6th grade, so he's gotta go!

 This ain't your mom's lunchbox.

Music from Dead Sara, Maybe Later, Dance Gavin Dance, Last Turn Off Broadway, Deftones, Craving Strange, REVEL 9 and MORE!

#onthebox

This week on the BOX...  Things are POPPIN once again, and DJ finds a new "anthem" but needs to watch the news to find something to yell about.  

He wants to know how someone goes about getting their driver's license suspended 89 times without going the -F- to jail and tells everyone about the NY State Trooper that pulled him over, TWICE, just for the fun of it, apparently.  He goes into the fail of "overexposure" and the art of protecting your brand, says why he doesn't like that local venues are expanding into the "unplugged show" market during the week and how that's going to damage what's already struggling here.  And finally, he discusses -at way too much length- why maybe local bands need to not be aiming so high with their expectations of local radio stations, when they can't even seem to rally around the entities that support them now.  It takes action to actually #makeascene and not just talk about what "other people" should do for you.

 This ain't your mom's lunchbox.

Music from Times Like these, Maybe Later, Against Me!, Know Your Enemy, Dino Skatepark, Craving Strange, Deftones, Danger Club, All New Episode and MORE!

#onthebox

This week on the BOX...  DJ is kinda ok.  He lays out what he wants to talk about and then proceeds to talk about other stuff.  #nobounds!

He gives his 2 cents (more like $3.50) in regards to last week's summit/workshop on the "State of the Long Island Music Scene" and just how much a waste of time and irrelevant it was.  He talks about what disasters "fan grabs" can be and why building a better "product" sometimes limits you in terms of who can work with.  He laments that more bands aren't willing to step out of they're comfort zone and work with him - not like he's the "be all, end all" of anything, but still, he's trying!  He recognizes and compliments the good work of others and is watching to see what they'll do next, and he's anxious AF about the show/tv pilot they are taping tonight... and that's not good at all!

This ain't your mom's lunchbox.

Music from Against Me!, Midnight Mob, Dino Skatepark, Jackknife Stiletto, The Muckrakers, Good Look Sigourney, Lorena Drive and MORE!

#onthebox

This week on the BOX...  DJ is losing his mind - or maybe it's already gone.  He (desperately) tries to figure out if he should go to a summit/workshop on the "State of the Long Island Music Scene" going on tonight.  He weighs in on the importance of having a discussion of some sort, but rails against the premise of the one currently at hand.  He questions whether or not he'd have anything of value to add, and whether or not anyone has any interest in what he has to say anyway.

Also, he takes on the coverband "we're just like original bands" BS, again, and let's you know why 98% of the "work" is already done for you in coverbands, so either walk the mile and produce your own "hit", or shut the eff up.

This ain't your mom's lunchbox.

Music from ADTR, Against Me!, Pralaya, Taking Back Sunday, The Muckrakers, Deftones, Danger Club, Craving Strange and MORE!

#onthebox

This week on the BOX...  DJ is having a "sh*it" day.. already.  He discusses the "way too many" things he's trying to handle in the second half of May, and how he knows when it's "time to stop" working on something.  He talks about the Jersey Shore Festival (coming up this weekend) and why he likes it so much, the latest in this mess of a show he's got coming up at the end of the month and has Mike Wahmann (LTOB) "Phone It In!";

Also, he goes into detail about why and how some local bands will always be "local bands" and what he thinks it takes to really do something great. And how hard it is to step back up to that plate...again.

This ain't your mom's lunchbox.

Music from A Perfect Circle, Single File, Aurin, Almost Awake, End of an Era, Times Like These, Jimmy's Blue Notebook and MORE!

#onthebox

This week on the BOX...  DJ is having a "bit" of a day.  He gets to the BoxStudio just in time to find the BoxComputer not BoxConnecting to the BoxInternet - which kinda matters.  

After a slow start, he talks about the current "shady AF" situation he's gotten the band into, and reads actual correspondences about it.  He figures out why the ice cream man comes around while the kids are at school, tries, yet again, to point out why bad band behavior is stupid and the most avoidable of evils and why "A Life Exceptional" made his Top 10 CD list on facebook.

This ain't your mom's lunchbox.

Music from Alien Ant Farm, Know Your Enemy, Danger Club, Slipknot, Makeshift, Against Me!, She Said Fire and MORE!

#onthebox

This week on the BOX...  DJ /may/ have a permanent sinus "situation" but /absolutely/ has a "slight" anger-management issue.  He talks about his failures at stress reduction, kickboxing and how skipping on meditation for him is like people that refuse to drink water.  He goes into detail about how it feels to be "slighted" in the music industry with some actual examples, why that level of anger "feels" like a Deftones song "sounds" and how frustrating it can be to be part of building something that other people take for granted.   

Also, it's probably not a good idea to send him a friend request and then ask him to "like" your band... jussayin'

This ain't your mom's lunchbox.

Music from Eye on Attraction, Real Friends, Know Your Enemy, Dino Skatepark, Scared20, Makeshift, Taking Back Sunday, REVEL 9 and MORE!

#onthebox

This week on the BOX...  DJ has BRAND NEW BUMPERS.  And.... he's tired of people saying "no" and not having any alternatives.  He compares getting stuff done in the band to "serving breakfast", explains why he took so long in pre-production and why the rest of pre-production is still dragging along.  He discusses the two sides of working with a producer and is actually excited for the songwriting challenges ahead on the new REVEL 9 record.  He drops a solid HERricanes update (#goherricanes), releases BRAND NEW MUSIC from Off The Turnpike and introduces a BRAND NEW SEGMENT when Jimmy G. "Phones It In".

Also, nothing was poppin' today.  Not even once.

This ain't your mom's lunchbox.

Music from Sweet Tooth, Real Friends, Off the Turnpike, Scared20, Alexisonfire, Jimmy's Blue Notebook, Almost Awake and MORE!

#onthebox

This week on the BOX...  DJ can't curse!  He talks about the embargo that's been put upon his colorful language by the HERricanes, how "good" his kid is at cursing and why "garden hose" is one of the "dirty" words he's no longer allowed to use on the soccer pitch.  He talks about maybe possibly being slightly racist or racial or something else entirely, his less-than-stellar cover of JBN's "Heroin" and why this weekend's concert with All New Episode, Craving Strange and REVEL 9 is really what "IT" is all about and how it's going to be awesome, and why!

Also, (R)Andy was sick, so LEARNING was Dope AF... 

This ain't your mom's lunchbox.

Music from REVEL 9, Craving Strange, All New Episode, Scared20, Gates, New Medicine, Treble Charger and MORE!

#onthebox

This week on the BOX...  DJ is ready for Soccer Season!!! He talks about the importance of being a good coach (on the field and in regular life) and how getting girls to listen to anything is like getting fruit through Customs.  He talks about "pissing off" Andy's band by doing a song together that OTTP used to like -and cover- at one time, but now apparently "sucks" because "DJ is a dick".  So there's that.  DJ tries to get Jimmy G's acting name right, talks about the TWO (almost identical) Dino Skatepark EPs and explains why running a band is so effing exhausting sometimes.  Seems like a lot for a Thursday... 

This ain't your mom's lunchbox.

Music from Bullet for my Valentine, Dino Skatepark, GutterLIFE, Times Like These, Sweet Tooth, Vajra, Andy Sexton and MORE!

#onthebox