BrandsForBands

What? As fresh and as clean as your soap dish, The Ivorys from Chicago, IL harness the love of classic rock but with a new spin. Through influences ranging from The Stooges and The Rolling Stones, to The Strokes, The White Stripes, and Arctic Monkeys; there is no doubt that this power trio has developed a retro but catchy sound that is sure to enrapture your interest in more ways than one. "Piece of Mind" is a sure standout track on the new recordings by the band with new member Neil Candelora. "Piece of Mind" showcases some of the bands best work in the raw, herky-jerky rocker. Be sure to see the band perform to get the full idea of what the band is all about- energetic, and fun rock 'n' roll that you are not afraid to sing along to.

Who? The Ivorys are longtime friends. Brendan Lazar (Drums/Percussion/Vocals) has known Sam White (Bass Guitar/Lead Vocals) since they were wee young in kindergarten. The Ivorys officially formed when Lazar met Robert Thomas in high school on Chicago's near south side in 2003. In December of 2009, Neil Candelora took over the Guitar and Vocal duties. The three grouped together in Lazar's basement to write and rehearse all of their material. Soon enough, their first self titled EP sprouted from the dust, the gigs were forming, and The Ivorys were well on their way to a fast following in Chicago through opening for bands such as The Redwalls, Mondo Diao, and Badfish to name a few. They soon fell under the wing of Chicago music producer, Ira Antelis where the band still records all of their material at his downtown recording studio.

Quick Facts • Showcased for Music Dealer's at SXSW 2009/ Hardrock Cafe Chicago 2011 • Performed at notable venues in Chicago like Metro (headlined twice), House of Blues (supporting Badfish and The Redwalls), Double Door (supporting Mondo Diao), Beat Kitchen (supporting The Hard Lessons and Monty Are I), Subterranean (supporting Locksley), and Bottom Lounge among others. •Supported National Acts such as The Redwalls, Das Racist, Locksley, Oberhofer • Have been on three self booked tours of the midwest and east coast • Showcased on FOX local news and in the Redeye • Song "Can't Stop" has appeared on WXRT's Local Anesthetic

FOR FANS OF Kings Of Leon The Black Keys The White Stripes The Strokes MUSE Arctic Monkeys The Fratellis OK GO The Raconteurs The Rolling Stones

The debut release of Kansas City band Capybara is filled to the brim with jangly synth melodies, light falsetto harmonies, and a syncopated percussive style that perpetually threatens to start a raucous party. Try Brother, self-produced in the Spring of 2009 in the mountains of northern New Mexico, blends earnest eyes-wide-open lyrics with delicate multi-instrumental arrangements. Their style draws on many influences, evoking classical chamber pop, down-home banjo folk rock, and soaring indie riffs in equal measures.

"Capybara won't long be an unknown commodity with its jittery, percussive, freakout folk pop. No xylophone is safe when the foursome takes the stage with at least as much pep as Arcade Fire and with songs that are way more fun than anything on Neon Bible." - The Pitch Weekly, Kansas City

Growing up in the American Heartland with a good old-fashioned Midwestern work ethic, their longtime childhood friendships and tightly-knit brotherhood help drive Capybara and fuel their creative fire. While early press reviews of Try Brother have drawn loose comparisons to the work of Dirty Projectors, Sufjan Stevens, and The Flaming Lips, it is clear that Capybara's new album comes straight from the heart.

"Capybara seem to have tapped into the sharpest fragments of the contemporary alt scene with kaleidoscopic expertise. They master every sound they make and never sound like pretenders, always like musicians; original, diverse, vibrant. Not that I mean to gush. Take a tour for yourself." - Monkton VS. Plankton, UK Blog

Look out for Capybara as they embark on their second national tour in Autumn 2009, touring in support of Try Brother, out now on The Record Machine.

NYC-based tropical grit pop duo Ghost Beach, are you familiar with them? Only a few months old, they're nailing a retro-future aesthetic that sounds like the The Police, Depeche Mode, and Daft Punk, with a little Passion Pit sprinkled on top for good measure. They have no label backing at the moment but are setting the internet on fire right now with their soaring and anthemic pop creations. Here's what people are saying:

"Ghost Beach are the latest pop pioneers to set the internet ablaze with only a couple singles floating around and without any major label backing. The New York-based duo of Josh Ocean and Eric "Doc" Mendelsohn take their '80s influences one step further with Ghost Beach. Only a few months old, they've already perfected a retro-future aesthetic that sounds like the holy trifecta of The Police, Depeche Mode, and Daft Punk, with a little Passion Pit sprinkled on top for good measure. Josh plays the jilted lover with vocal panache as Eric's soaring synths, guitars and forever young harmonies are plucked right out of Neverland. Ghost Beach is more about a time than a place, and that time is now." - Andrew Hwang (Neon Gold)

"Ghost Beach are seductively good, with endless factors shaping their sound. In parts it sounds like synth-laden '80s pop, and on others resembles a punk-rock vibe with lengthy guitar solos, like on single "First Time". Their confused adolescent genre is a result of influences from the likes of Depeche Mode, Daft Punk and The Police. The American pairing are reminiscent of an early Hot Hot Heat, with a semi-fem vocal, unashamedly bathing in a pop bath – and I don't mean the bubbles. They produced something that's a lot more grown up. Saying that, they have the fun factor, the nonchalant attitude, and a contagious "let's not stop partying until we throw up" glitter factor" - Tim Osbourne (Obscure Sound)

Formed in 2009 when two college dropouts turned roommates started writing pop songs together in their sweltering Chicago apartment, Stepdad has moved far from those roots, but the basic formula still hasn’t changed. Songwriters ultramark and Ryan McCarthy possess an ability to write high-energy pop songs laden with hooks that rival artists who happen to be filling stadiums - they’re a songwriting team with a great ear for melody, harmony, and song structure. Because of this, buzz quickly followed the release of their self-produced debut EP, Ordinaire (Quite Scientific, 2011).

Now hailing from Michigan’s west coast, they've had the amazing fortune of being able to work with producer Chris Zane (The Walkmen, Holy Ghost!, Friendly Fires, Passion Pit) on their debut album Wildlife Pop (Black Bell, 2012), toured with Fitz & The Tantrums, Reptar, Passion Pit, Vans Warped Tour, and have had songs featured in countless TV shows, commercials, and video games.

Recently the band expanded their line-up by adding longtime friend and guitarist Nathan K. (a well known Michigan songwriter and solo artist in his own right) and drummer Ben Weissenborn, replacing Jeremy Malvin (who has gone on to his own career as Chrome Sparks). Long time bassist Alexander Fives parted ways with the group in 2014.

Stepdad is ultramark, Ryan McCarthy, Nathan K., Ben Weissenborn

Self-proclaimed darlings of magic hour, C T Z N S H P are a mystical power-trio that are as mesmerizing as they are intense. While it’s only three tracks long, their EP “Swan Dive” will take you on a ride you’ll never forget.

So many pieces of Savannah, GA three-piece The Casket Girls seemed to happen by accident. From their beginning - when electronic sound-shaper Ryan Graveface (Graveface Records, Dreamend, Black Moth Super Rainbow) found sisters Phaedra and Elsa Greene under a tree in one of Savannah's many squares, playing Autoharp and singing bizarre songs - to the night they composed their sophomore album, True Love Kills the Fairy Tale, under circumstances that fall somewhere between séance and dream state, nearly everything about The Casket Girls seems to have been inspired by some kind of spooky happenstance. But then again, the Greene sisters don't believe in accidents.

"I dropped off a shit ton of songs to the girls to work on one night," Graveface says of the genesis of True Love, the follow up to Casket Girls' critically acclaimed 2012 debut. "I went back to check on their progress, because they weren't answering their phones. I don't know if they dropped acid or what, but I walked in and Elsa was sobbing and reciting poetry while Phaedra was just staring straight ahead writing it all down, like catatonic. The next day they dropped off a CD and said, 'We don't even know what's on this. You can throw it in the garbage if you want.' I sat down and listened all the way through and cried.

Phaedra and Elsa had filled the disc with lilting, almost whimsical melodies about chemical hazes and love gone sour like a couple of fucked up Shangri-las, to which Graveface added a bevy of grinding, multi-dimensional psych-rock keys that will be familiar to anyone with a Graveface LP in their collection. It's this twisted and comforting charm, which set in motion the Graveface-Greene love affair in the first place, that relieves us from fear.

The Casket Girls have gained momentum and a substantial cult following due to the unflagging catchiness of their songwriting and the compelling development of their live stage show. They spent the last year and a half touring in support of BMSR and The Faint before growing into headliners in their own right. Last year, they released a self-titled EP on Record Store Day, and a "cassingle" cassette store day.

With a fresh perspective on indie dreampop, Caveboy roots themselves in the primal and builds to multilayered experiences. Influenced by similar childhood identities, Caveboy is the culmination of the shared life experiences of its three members Michelle Bensimon (Lead Vocals, Guitar, Synth), Isabelle Banos (Synth, Bass, Backing Vocals) and Lana Cooney (Drums, Backing Vocals). They revel in ideas of fearlessness, self­-sufficiency, the extraordinary, and that which is feral and cannot be tamed.

Connecting through the pop music from their parents’ generation, the band works hard at developing their sound to utilize these respected musical elements while at the same time always trying to create new worlds of sound with their synthesizers, driving percussion, and symbolic lyricism inter­weaved with their Guitar/Bass/Drums core.

Their debut EP, released in October 2015, immediately began charting on Canadian college radio and broke the top National 25 on Earshot. Their music has been featured in Syfy’s “Killjoys”, MTV’s “Awkward” and Netflix’s “Orange is the New Black”.

The band continued to turn heads on a supporting tour with Dear Rouge and Rah Rah, and electrified audiences with showcases at Pop Montreal, CMJ, SXSW and CMW. Caveboy continues to make waves into the summer and fall festivals with performances at Glowfair, Sound of Music, Hillside, Pride Toronto, Osheaga, and Rifflandia.

With a powerful live set not to be missed, Caveboy are the band you'll be talking about the next day.

The now mythic trio, We Are Wolves, presents an honest and uncatchable sound; a bit like celestial lightning hitting a sacred mountaintop. Mainly inspired by visual arts, they paint a post-punk landscape, scattered with analog trees. Their primitive approach remains true to their animal of predilection: untamable. Disciples of rock and electronica - it’s at the junction of those two movements that We Are Wolves made their den.

Diamond Youth is like the end of that romantic comedy where the lead actress finally realizes the guy she’s truly searching for has been by her side the entire time.” Claiming Baltimore as their home, members of Diamond Youth are spread across Richmond and Chicago as well, creating an obstacle in terms of actually practicing as a band. However, using tools of the trade such as 3-way iChat, garage band, and voice note files, Diamond Youth has released 2 EP’s in their short tenure since the summer of 2012. Despite the varying musical tastes of each member in Diamond Youth, they all share a very common back catalogue of bands who have inspired and defined their developing years as budding artists. From Weezer to Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, and all the way back to the Beach Boys, the influence these bands has had on Diamond Youth is ever-apparent in the music they write.

Prawn formed in Ridgewood, NJ in the summer of 2007. The band has extensively toured the U.S., self released two EP’s and one tour demo. The band self-released their first full length "You Can Just Leave It All " in June 2011 and Topshelf Records released it on vinyl that winter. Prawn followed up their first full length with an EP/LP entitled "Ships." In the summer of 2012, Prawn made their first trip to Europe and the UK in the form of a five week tour. The band has continued touring throughout 2012 and 2013. A split release with Joie De Vivre is in the works for late 2013 and a new LP in early 2014.