Episode Transcript
[00:00:13] Speaker A: We get Spotlight with BJ Swinghammer.
Is that his real name?
[00:00:21] Speaker B: Yes, it is.
Yeah.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: We get Spotlight with BJ Swinghammer.
Is that his real name? Yes, it is.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
DJ Weekend Spotlight.
[00:00:43] Speaker C: Hey, what's going on, everybody? Happy friggin Thursday.
Welcome to another episode of Unsigned 518's Weekend Spotlight. I'm your host, BJ Swinghammer. And yes, that is my real name. Thank you so much also to the Sugar Hole for pointing that out because so many people probably think I'm just some schmuck who's full of shit. So here's Munyar I guys, because now the sugar holds. Told you the truth. Swinghammer or whatever. And by the way, if you're looking for me, I am on Instagram under Weekend Spotlight. So weekend with no ease. So wknd Spotlight on Instagram. And you can also find this podcast and all the other podcasts on the metroland.com so just go to departments and you can find your way from there. You got my podcast, you have Aaron Hark's podcast, you have Andy's podcast, you've got Angelina Valente's podcast. Like, we're all, we're all there neatly tucked into one convenient area. And you know, it's. It's been two weeks already. It hasn't seemed like it's been a long time, but. And it has been a long time. It's only been two weeks. But hopping back on this again, kind of felt like I almost had to like reprepare in a few ways just because it's been just long enough where I'm just like, huh?
[00:01:57] Speaker B: What?
[00:01:57] Speaker C: You want me to what? Talk into microphone? Okay.
But yeah, I'm back now, so everything's fine. You can all just rest your sphincters because I am here to once again bring you some of the best local music. And speaking of local music, I think I've officially decided to name it Schwinghammer's Pick of the Week. Until I change it, which I totally could because it's my goddamn podcast. And that's. I. I can do that. It's my prerogative. But I have decided for this week's Schwinghammer's Pick of the Week comes from Victory Soul Orchestra, which some of you are familiar with, some of you are not.
Jb, AKA Dirty Moses, has other projects, has other irons in the fire like you do. And one of them is Victory Soul Orchestra.
This is off their 2018 album Astro Beat.
And what I'm going to show you right now is called Suspension of Disbelief.
All right, that was suspension of disbelief off the 2018 album Astro Beat from Victory Soul Orchestra. All right, moving forward tonight. Tonight, you know what's going on tonight. Empire Underground is going on tonight. So at 7pm you've got my prophecy and saving Vice and I actually ended up running to one of the band members from my prophecy. A few weeks ago I was out shopping, you know, he gave me a flyer, looked cool. I looked it up and I started listening to him. And they have a self titled album that they've currently like remixed and remastered and done a lot of stuff to. It turned out really good. And you know, well done you guys. That was a, that was a hell of an upgrade to your album.
So empire underground at 7pm, my prophecy, saving Vice. And I'm gonna be doing my prophecy off their 2025 self titled album.
And this track is called B.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: We do not want to follow their rules. Doing the same routine every day. We cannot stand this life anymore. Time to become ourselves. We are young and we are strong. Figuring out how to make it right. We will not stop until we win.
Get up and rise to glory.
Yeah hey. We are road folded hey hey yeah.
Do or die they don't need to know who we are. We will draw away from all the pain. We will never turn back on our lives. We are bonding with delinquency.
We have become tired of all this Making our happiness to others Mentally we are not okay Face the consequence. How do we live in harmony if there is heartbreak and anger it's impossible to get out of this Love has turned into hate.
Yeah, we are revolving yeah, do or die they will need to know who we are. We will draw away from all the pain. We will never turn back on our lives. We are bonding with delinquents Singing all who we are. We will draw away from all the pain we will never turn back on our lives. We are bonding with delinquency.
They don't need to know who we are. We will draw away from all the pain we will never turn back on our lives. We are bonding with delinquency. You know who we are. We will draw away from all the pain Never turn back on our lives. We are bonding with delinquency. Oh, who we are. We will draw away from all the pains. We will never turn back on our lives. We are bonding with delinquency.
[00:12:00] Speaker C: All right, that was BWD off off the 2025 self titled album for my prophecy.
Well done on the album, well done on all the remixing. It sounds great and Good job. And we are going to skip over the seventh and head right to the eighth. So here we go for Saturday.
And this is actually not the 518, not even close. This is in Salem, Massachusetts at 90 Washington street and this starts at 9:30pm so the lineup is Dust Prophet, Black Tun, Reverend Ben Thick Realm and Able Blood. If you're looking for something heavy to listen to in Salem or around Salem, now you know where to go. So for those of you in Salem, Massachusetts, they are coming. And especially BlackTurn Reverend you know, I love those guys so much. Watch out, Salem. They are gonna be right in your faces very, very soon. And because, you know, the Upstate of Mind album from Blacktown Reverend Is so good and has just so many incredible songs on it. I'm. I'm gonna play them. I'm gonna play Blacktown Reverend off their up state of mind.
And this one is called Chewing Stones.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: It's.
[00:14:23] Speaker D: On the backs of sleeping giants or on the backside of my hand Am I the son of David.
[00:14:38] Speaker B: Or.
[00:14:39] Speaker D: Am I the son of Sam?
Just to break you down.
[00:15:14] Speaker B: Lead you.
[00:15:15] Speaker D: To Oasis Just to let you drown I'll build a cult around my image and turn a house of cards to.
[00:15:42] Speaker B: Gold.
[00:15:45] Speaker D: I'll promise you the last supper.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: Lift you up.
[00:16:21] Speaker D: Just to break it.
[00:16:22] Speaker B: Down.
[00:16:26] Speaker D: Lead you to Oasis.
[00:16:31] Speaker B: Just to.
[00:16:32] Speaker D: Let you drown.
[00:16:42] Speaker B: Sam.
[00:17:18] Speaker D: Lift you up just to break you down.
[00:17:27] Speaker B: Lead you.
[00:17:28] Speaker D: To Oasis Just to let you drown.
[00:17:45] Speaker B: Sam.
[00:18:42] Speaker C: All right, that was Chewing Stones from Black Ton Reverend off their new album Upstate of Mine.
And if you guys are listening, seriously, well done. I listen. I listen to this album probably way too many times and I'll listen to it way too many times more. If that's any kind of like, correct grammar. Probably not. Doesn't matter. All right, moving on. And now it's time for my favorite segment of the show, and that is checking in with our band show, who is just doing some of the best, most important work in music in the 518 and beyond. They take bands that you love, bands you haven't heard of yet, and they give them the rockstar treatment. And it is always such an amazing, special thing to watch and they do such an amazing job at it.
So, guys, what is going on with our band show this week?
[00:19:28] Speaker E: Thank you, BJ and welcome into our band show this week. We're keeping it pretty straightforward and just letting you know that we're starting to release the mastered and edited versions of our session with Wickham falls on our YouTube channel.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: Channel.
[00:19:41] Speaker E: A strong female led group sees Brooke tackle the vocals and rhythm guitar. Connor on bass, Nigel as lead guitar, and Joey on the drums. They describe themselves as a youthful, high energy rock band from the Hudson Valley. They love writing cool riffs and songs about anxiety, parties and asthma. The group's musical tastes are all over the place. The Beatles, Beck, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage against the Machine, Steely Dan, and of course those video game soundtracks.
Silent Hill and Skate, to name a few. This eclectic mix gives them plenty of inspiration to draw from. And during the show, Brooke went more into her perspective of what she brings to the band.
[00:20:25] Speaker F: I started playing violin at a young age because my. We had a family friend that played violin. I want to be like her. So I started playing violin. I started playing guitar when I was like 12. My dad also played guitar.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: And.
[00:20:42] Speaker F: Yeah, I, I think I've always loved rock music and exploring different kinds of rocks, different genres throughout the year and I mean I like all different kinds of genres. But now writing music, I'm influenced highly with like alternative rock, hard rock.
I'm even been influenced by folk music, especially lyrically.
I also studied classical guitar in college and so some folk artists influence my guitar writing too, especially since I'm a rhythm guitarist.
So folk wise, like Nick Drake, Joni Mitchell and then band wise, my favorite band is the Strokes.
I love Peach Pit and Red Hot Chili Peppers, stuff like that.
[00:21:45] Speaker G: Nice. It's funny, I was thinking Joni Mitchell and Little Paul Simon too in some of like the, the riffs. I don't know if you're a fan, but I'm getting that out of it.
Anyways, let's jump to Connor. Connor, who's your inspiration?
Yeah, I think the two biggest artists that influenced my playing in Wickham Falls is probably the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rage against the Machine. So like that like funk slash hard rock mixture I think makes its way into our stuff a lot.
But for like what I listen to like I mostly listen to like metal and hardcore music now and like I don't think that mainly directly influences a lot of our stuff. Maybe it indirectly does. Like I bought a five string because I started getting into metal. I was like, well I can't play it unless I have this low tuning.
And then it became the main instrument I play for all our shows and sets and I find that the, the low tuning fits in really nice in some of our music.
[00:22:40] Speaker E: It has been a fantastic time. Revisiting the band's performance through the post production of this session.
Creating a visual rhythm that both showcases each member of the group and matches the music is a very fun journey.
[00:22:54] Speaker B: Journey.
[00:22:54] Speaker E: It's not an easy task with roughly 10 cameras worth of footage to make those decisions from. One of my main thoughts that's on my mind throughout this entire process is presenting the studio space to the viewer.
What are the best cuts from the close up shots to those wide shots and then back again to those closer shots? What is the editing flow to enhance the enjoyment of the performance?
You might notice when watching the videos that I cut from Brooks singing to a wide shot, the entire video band, and then back to Nigel who's ripping on the guitar.
From there I jump to a front shot of the drums and then to a side shot of those drums just to give it a little extra action. That shot features Brooke and Connor in the background and it makes it very easy to cut to either one of them before I repeat the process. I'm pretty stoked on the process we developed for this show, along with the creative freedom that it gives me to really tell the story inside our studio space. Case I'm so glad that I got to enjoy Wickham Falls during my most recent video editing session and this is why we have chosen for this week's weekend Spotlight Wickham Falls Parameth Party recorded live on our band show.
[00:24:28] Speaker F: I'm b to quench your thirst for.
[00:24:31] Speaker H: My metallic taste Fight me until I bleed clear Fill me deep with you.
[00:24:42] Speaker B: Then.
[00:24:44] Speaker H: Entangle my remaining life with fear Even in permethrin the only way to stay safe Liberate the hooks in my.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: Mouth.
[00:25:01] Speaker H: Tell me about the life we can make.
[00:25:09] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:25:14] Speaker H: Someone turn the lights.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: Out oh.
[00:25:24] Speaker H: My room is getting dark.
[00:25:56] Speaker F: Walking secluded fields I'd soon be getting.
[00:26:03] Speaker H: On too fast Cuz I didn't pull my socks above my cal My bones are getting brittle Lend me a path.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: To.
[00:26:24] Speaker H: There was a bullseye on my.
[00:26:29] Speaker B: Next oh.
[00:26:36] Speaker H: Someone turn the lights out.
[00:26:42] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:26:47] Speaker H: My room is getting dark.
[00:26:52] Speaker B: The.
[00:26:53] Speaker H: More I speak the more.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: The more.
[00:26:58] Speaker H: I sing oh I think, I think I'll miss my love I'm way too young to be held out I'm sorry love I have to leave now.
[00:27:35] Speaker F: Wish.
[00:27:35] Speaker H: They would spray me down with gas have a permestrin party down my drive.
[00:28:50] Speaker E: Permethrin party is just the start. We will be releasing more Wickham Falls songs on our YouTube channel and clips on our Instagram in the upcoming weeks, both at our band show. Go ahead and check them out. Give us a helping hand with the likes, the shares, the subscribes, and help us in our efforts to support the local music scene. Besides following the social accounts. Check out the website rbandshow.com for new articles from our past performers and more.
Speaking of which, Michael, the frontman of Phenomenon, hit me up on Instagram to tell me the band is releasing an album on November 21st. It's called Energy Vampire and is available for pre order now. While having a fascination and appreciation for the paranormal, this band is musically influenced by the 90s grudge, error and the blues bass rock that came before it. Phenomenons powerful riffs and heavy rhythm section is paired with the emotive vocals and exciting guitar solos for a unique brand of rock and roll.
Some really cool guys Guys with some really cool album art. Check out their performance on our channel and visit their band camp page for more information on the Energy Vampires album. Plenty of music this month to continue to rock out to bj. I better send it back to you.
[00:30:12] Speaker C: All right, thanks a lot guys. Don't forget you can find our band show on Facebook, Instagram, our bandshow.com. me personally, personally, I like YouTube. YouTube, you just go right to it. You see what they've done in the past for the other bands and you can just sit there and just digest so much great musical talent just in a row for hours at a time. And you know what? Give it a try. Give it a try. You know what? Screw the whole streaming service for movies and stuff like that. Stream a ton of our bansh on YouTube. I think you'll find it is goddamn enchanted, ranting and now moving into the metro land. Now's hot singles in your area. It's a lisp cultivated by TJ Foster every month, who's got amazing taste. And the hot single in your area this week is Young Culture off an upcoming album. It's not coming out until the 21st of this month and the album is called All Weapons Forged Against Me have Prospered, which is such a great name for an album. That's. That's badass, man. That's long and that's badass.
So off of the upcoming album from Young Culture, this track is called Broken Paper Plane.
[00:31:28] Speaker I: Heard it's your birthday today Still I'll apologize the same for lying myself in selfish ways I'll be bear the weight of all the shame if it's the cocaine that stained all of our plates and knives and trays and flying on broken paper plane with family scream in Jesus name Emptied out your house Filled it with anger, fear and doubt Expecting just love but love runs out Ripping our roots out from the ground.
[00:32:05] Speaker B: Would you be okay if I never came around and ruined everything as we say if I threw up and owned up to the mess I made back in 402 never told the truth now the world's only emptiest shade of blue it's not been the same since I showed up and crashed a broken paper plane.
[00:32:40] Speaker I: It's a brand new day look in the mirror see a face that you wouldn't recognize anyway can't believe what I.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: Became I kept your letters just in case I make it up to you someday for now I'm folding my own ways to buy a broken paper plate Would you be okay if I never change Came around and ruined everything Asked me to say if I threw up and on until the mess I made back in 402 never told the truth now the was an emptiest shade of blue it's got been the same since I showed up and crash your broken paper plane.
[00:33:35] Speaker I: Such a human way of shapeshifting into someone you would hate noticing only when too late Would you be okay if I never came around and.
[00:33:51] Speaker B: Fucked up everything as we say if I grew up in old but still the mess I made still were there for me Wasn't there for you D was just something I had to do I've been.
[00:34:42] Speaker C: All right that was Broken Paper Plane from Young Culture off the soon to be released album. It's being released on 21st of this month and the album is called All Weapons Forged Against Me have Prospered. I don't think you're gonna be able to forget that anytime soon. So now you know exactly what to go find and download. And don't forget, you know Metroland, you've got themtroland.com which is a treasure trove of information for all things lore local.
So always keep that in mind. There's so much there. If you're ever bored or if you're not sure what to do with your week or your weekend, just check out the the metroland.com and they will all the people that put in a ton of work into making that such a great site have given you so many avenues to find something of interest in the area. So. And also don't forget Facebook and Instagram.
You know, they're right there, they're always looking for you. And also don't forget physical copies.
So the Metroland is back in physical form. It was gone.
I got pissed. It's back and then I got happy again.
So go out, go find them. They're. They're all over the place. If you can't find them, go to the metroland.com, look up contact, reach out and somebody will let you know where to find one. And if you're looking to put some Metroland into your business, scroll to the bottom of the the home home screen and there's a prompt you can follow. Fill out your information, you start getting it. It's easy as pie. Oh, and don't forget, once again, podcasts. You know, all the podcasts that are run through the Metroland. You just go to departments. You can find your way from there. Check everything out. Check us all out. We're all doing so much great work. We're really busting our asses to make sure you guys can have so much information and so much great things to listen to. It's one of the many magical things you could do on themetroland.com and that's it for me. That's it.
[00:36:33] Speaker B: Geez.
[00:36:33] Speaker C: You know, for two weeks, no schwing hammer. All of a sudden swing hammer pops up. I mean that was there. That was the Halloween episode. That was very Andy centric because he is Mr. Halloween. So it's good to be back in your ears. I really appreciate it. Thanks for listening. I will see you later. Take care of yourselves. 518 we all deserve it. And as usual, you stay cool.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: I'm calling shotgun.
Where's the party tonight?
Let's take a ride Been swinging for driving.
[00:37:11] Speaker I: It's the Weekend Spotlight.
[00:37:18] Speaker B: Get ready.
[00:37:20] Speaker E: The Weekend Spotlight is a production of unsigned 518 and part of the Metroland now network on of podcasts. Unsigned 518's Weekend Spotlight is produced by Andy Scullin and hosted by BJ Swinghammer. Look for new episodes every week at the metroland.com and everywhere you stream podcast.
