Today is Father’s Day in Australia. I was lucky and received an iTunes voucher as part of my present from my ‘grateful for their lives’ children. I had decided a few days ago that if I received an iTunes gift card I would do a couple of things with it. Firstly I would use it to create some new plectrums using my PickMaster plectrum maker. Secondly, I would use the credit from the gift card to buy music from some of the bands/acts I’d discovered through the Twitter network.
I decided to do the second item first as to do otherwise meant cutting up my card before grabbing the redeem code from the back. Plan ahead!
Twitter is my favourite social network. It’s the social network I am the most active on. It’s also the network I discover the most on. Over the past few years I’ve come across some very talented musicians through people that have followed me, or that I have followed. Today I decided to spend my Father’s Day winnings on the music my fellow Twitter users have generated.
Here’s a brief rundown on the musicians I chose to purchase from today.
Animus Complex
Animus Complex have an EP called Admission of Guilt that can be purchased on iTunes. The first song of theirs I really noticed—I.D.—isn’t on iTunes currently, but you it does have this cool video. I decided to purchase their track Right to Remain which is a great metal track with a very tight rhythm track. The riffs are great in this song.
This Dark Day
I discovered This Dark Day through their guitarist George on Twitter. The band has an EP on iTunes called Sick at Heart and I decided to purchase their track White Dress. I love the guitars (obviously) and the female vocals in this band. It’s a really good sound.
Art of Dying
I discovered Art of Dying through their vocalist and songwriter Jonny Hetherington. Art of Dying have some outstanding tracks on iTunes with three albums to choose from. I decided to purchase the tracks Get Thru This and Die Trying. Art of Dying have toured with Avenged Sevenfold, Seether, Three Days Grace and Disturbed. If you like any/all of those bands, chances are you’ll like Art of Dying. These are polished and outstanding rock tracks.
Haster
Haster is one of those bands that followed me on Twitter and made me wonder what rock I’d been living under once I listened to them. They have some very unique sounds and styles that all just seem to work well when listened to together. I chose their tracks Believe and White Blank Page from their iTunes catalog (they currently have one full album and a single). These two tracks show the band’s diversity and make me want for more. You can hear more of their music (including a new track titled You’ll Never Know) on their ReverbNation page.
The Worshyp
I can’t even remember how I stumbled upon The Worshyp, but I’m glad I did. They have some outstanding metal tracks on iTunes. With two full albums to choose from, it was hard to narrow my selection down, but I decided to go with Diabolic and Crop Circles. Both of these tracks are great metal tracks. They remind me of what I consider to be the glory days of 80s Thrash Metal. Diabolic reminds me of the kind of music I remember Anthrax playing in the 80s and the seven minute instrumental piece that is Crop Circles reminds me what Metallica did in the 80s. Just great stuff.
New Skinn
New Skinn are an Australian heavy metal act putting together some brutal riffs and seriously well-constructed music. I chose to buy two tracks from their current album on iTunes—Unfaithful Departed and Inside. These two songs show the range the band has. Unfaithful Departed is a brilliant song that builds the way a great rock ballad should. Inside however is more metallic in its delivery. The vocals get grittier in this track. Both though are amazing though. \m/
Fight or Flight
I’ve been a Disturbed fan for years now (I have all their CDs). When I learned Dan Donegan (Disturb’s guitarist) had a side project called Fight or Flight, I got excited. I’ve been a fan of Dan’s riff writing and playing abilities for ages and I was keen to see what he came up with outside of the Disturbed camp. I wasn’t disappointed. I’ve heard most of the tracks on the new album, but I had to purchase Leaving for this Father’s Day list. The way this song builds both vocally and musically gets me every time. The other songs on this album are heavier, but this song is just amazing.
Peter Hodgson
Peter Hodgson runs the successful Blog i heart guitar. He also writes for Gibson, Australian Guitar, Australian Musician and more. When he’s not doing that he’s answering questions on all the main social media networks … Because he just knows stuff! One of the reasons I believe he knows stuff is because he seems to also be an outstanding guitar player. I suspected as much when I purchased his track Symbols and Signs from his Bandcamp page (if you haven’t done the same, do so). I knew for certain that he was good when I purchased his track Hyperreality from iTunes. Not only is there some seriously impressive guitar playing going on in this track, it’s beautifully written. This is just a really nice song. If you like Steve Vai or Joe Satriani … buy this.
And there you have it. For just over $1.50 AUD a song (on average) I ended up with what I consider to be an impressive mix of guitar related music. When played in a playlist there’s more than enough music for my journey to work tomorrow. I won’t even hear a song repeat. Life is good and I owe it all to Twitter, iTunes and my children for looking after their Dad on this Father’s Day.
Have you supported a band you discovered through social media? Let me know who. They might make just my Christmas playlist.