May Day 2006

Staind Photos

2006-06-04T23:01:00.000-04:00

Staind headlined the May Day 2006 concert. Aaron Lewis and crew hit the stage hard and put the exclaimation point on the show.

Post your review of their live performance to the comments below.

For more photos of Staind, check out the photo gallery on X103.com

Three Days Grace Photos

2006-06-04T11:30:00.000-04:00

Three Days Grace rocked May Day 2006. Singer, Adam Gontier was a crowd favorite, especially with the girls.

Post your review of their live performance to the comments below.

For more photos of Three Days Grace, check out the photo gallery on X103.com

10 Years Photos Online

2006-06-01T02:16:00.000-04:00

Considering 10 Year's front man, Jesse Hasek was very sick, they still put on a great show. You can tell from the photos that Jesse's eye was swollen and looked very uncomfortable.

Check out more photos at X103.com's photo gallery.

Flyleaf at May Day

2006-06-01T00:21:00.000-04:00

Flyleaf seemed to be a crowd favorite at May Day. Singer Lacey Mosley was popular on and off stage at the Karma Autograph booth. Check out more photos of Flyleaf at X103.com's photo gallery.

Evans Blue Live at May Day

2006-05-27T17:02:00.000-04:00

Evans Blue opens May Day with a powerful performance.

Bikini Contest at the VIP Party

2006-05-27T16:25:00.000-04:00

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Staind Accoustic Set

2006-05-27T14:51:00.000-04:00

Staind rocks the Coors Light Private Party to kick off May Day 2006. They'll headline the main stage at 8:50pm.

Evans Blue interview

2006-05-27T14:13:00.000-04:00

Deuce talks with Matysn and Parker of Evans Blue in the green room. Evans Blue will open May Day on the main stage!

DJ's backstage

2006-05-27T13:24:00.000-04:00

X103 DJ's hanging out backstage in the green room.
The crew prepares to cause some trouble just before the gates open!

Stuck with a tie dye

2006-05-27T13:23:00.000-04:00

Nothing like being stuck with Stuck in the green room.

Karma Autograph Booth Times

2006-05-27T10:17:00.000-04:00

4:45 PM Evans Blue

5:40 PM Flyleaf

6:30 PM Hurt

7:25 PM 10 Years

8:40 PM Three Days Grace

Some details...

2006-05-26T10:55:00.000-04:00

Doors: 2:30pm

Music Starts: 4:00pm

Those of you who have tickets to the private party will have one gate opened at the main gate for you to enter at 2:00pm for the Coors Light Pit Stop Party featuring Alex B spinning and a private intimate set by Staind.

May Day 2006 featuring Staind...

2006-05-25T22:36:00.000-04:00

X103's and Coors Light's May Day brought to you by Hardees! It's going to be a great show! May 27 at the Verizon Wireless Music Center. Staind, Three Days Grace, 10 Years, Hurt, Flyleaf and Evans Blue.

Here's the ticket info:
A limited number of Pit tickets available @ $45.00
Lower Pavilion - $35.00
Upper Pavilion - $25.00
Lawn Tickets only $19.00

Staind Bio

2006-05-25T14:05:00.000-04:00

It has been said that first impressions last a life time. Luckily for Staind, some only last for about 45 minutes. After a volatile disagreement with Limp Bizkit's Fred Durst over some of Staind's early cover art, it seemed their big break had walked out the door. Fortunately by the time Durst had witnessed Staind's intense live show, he was ready to exchange phone numbers.

Staind's story began in the New England area when vocalist Aaron Lewis and guitarist Mike Mushok met at a Christmas party in 1993. Mushok was able to bring drummer Jon Wysocki into the fold, and Lewis' connection with a bass player (now no longer with the band) completed the early lineup.

Establishing themselves took time, and extensive touring of the northeast with other established metal acts helped them sell over 2000 copies of their self released debut in just over a year. They were primed for their big break, and on October 23, 1997, the hard work paid off.

At a show in Hartford, CT, Staind was all set to open for Limp Bizkit when Bizkit singer Fred Durst raised a stink over cover art on Staind's self-released CD. After a heated conversation over whether or not Staind were Satan worshippers, Durst forcefully returned the disc to the band, and walked away. 45 minutes later Durst was back, not to further the argument, but to make sure he kept in contact with Staind. Blown away by their live show, Durst exchanged phone numbers, and Staind were now on their way. All they had to do was wait.

And wait they did. Given Limp Bizkit's busy touring schedule, it was difficult for Mushok to reach Durst. So they went to him directly. Staind drove up to a Bizkit show in Boston, and dropped off a tape of demo material they had been working on. Durst loved it and convinced them to travel to Jacksonville, FL, to work on the new songs.

After reworking the new material and a successful live show, Durst contacted the head of Flip Records, and arranged a meeting for Staind with the label. While in Los Angeles, a three-song sampler was recorded, and by the time February rolled around in 1998, the band had a record deal. After playing the Vans Warped Tour, they began work on their first album, Dysfunction. The album was produced by Terry Date (Deftones, Pantera, Soundgarden), and was released April 13, 1999. A tour with Kid Rock followed that spring and later the band reunited with good friends Limp Bizkit for a summer tour. Their follow-up, Break the Cycle, enjoyed a prolonged visit at the number one spot on U.S. charts in 2001. Smash hits like "It's Been Awhile," "Fade," "For You" and "Epiphany" catapulted the band into the mainstream, leaving their 2002 DVD MTV Unplugged to go gold. Staind returned to form for the release of 14 Shades of Grey in spring 2003. ~ Chris True, All Music Guide

Written by Chris True

Evans Blue Bio

2006-05-24T02:01:00.000-04:00

"From the first rehearsal, it was a surreal feeling sitting in the room, says Evans Blue guitarist Parker Lauzon. "We wrote three songs within the first hour we met."

When they connected online through a musician's message board, none of the members of Evans Blue imagined that they would be meeting their destiny. Each was a skilled player of his respective instrument, but they were living in three different cities that were miles apart. When they came together as a band, though, the five--also including Kevin Matisyn (vocals), Vlad Tanaskovic (guitar), Darryl Brown (drums), and Joe Pitter (bass)--instantaneously became one. And the story begins.

"Matisyn brought a book of words with him," recalls Lauzon, "and he made the words fit to the music I brought in. It blew me away how effortless it was." The dark musings of the mind of Matisyn were simultaneously lifted off the page and grounded by the pull of the music. As if by a chemical reaction, Evans Blue was created.

Just a few months later, via the same online message board, Matisyn answered an ad for a new Toronto recording facility called The Pocket Studios. When he first visited for a tour, studio co-owner Mari Dew observed, "He said very little, but Matisyn had an unspoken combination of magnetism and intensity about him, something special, yet hard to explain." The band went into the studio with Trevor Kustiak, and the chemistry was immediate. Evans Blue was signed to The Pocket Recordings, with Mari as their manager and Trevor, their producer.

The next six months together yielded Evans Blue's debut album, The Melody And The Energetic Nature Of Volume, a collection of 10 original songs interwoven with an intoxicating interpretation of fellow Canadian Sarah McLachlan's "Possession." The "Melody" tells a twisted tale of love, passion, betrayal, denial, loss, hatred and pain, ultimately ending on a note of hope. Matisyn's compelling lyrics lead the listener on a journey, resonating with anyone who has experienced these universal emotions. The band provides the "Volume"--the driving sound that guides the listener through the ups and the downs.

The "Energy" comes directly from the fans. Their numbers are expanding like an infection, as the music spreads virally through the radio waves, the Internet and in live performance.

With its massive hooks and dark vocals and lyrics, Evans Blue's first single, "Cold (But I'm Still Here)," secured regular airplay. This in turn captured the attention of Hollywood Records, and Evans Blue has since signed an international record deal with the label. While grateful, Lauzon was not at all surprised. "We've had faith in this band since the beginning," he says. "We know that this band has 'Destiny' written all over it."
Written by Record Label

Three Days Grace Bio

2006-05-23T02:12:00.000-04:00

The members of Three Days Grace began bashing punk chords when they were in their teens, carving a derivative yet energetic sound that fueled their live performances. Three Days Grace was formed in Norwood, Ontario, Canada, in 1997 by Adam Gontier (vocals, guitar), Brad Walst (bass), and Neil Sanderson (drums). The group was originally called Groundswell, a five-piece that lasted from 1992 until transforming to a trio five years later. Gontier and Walst were raised in Norwood, and many of their songs were inspired by living in a place with a population of around 1,500. The bandmembers were still in high school when they had their first gig, and they performed anywhere that would accept them -- including opening for a movie.

Three Days Grace eventually relocated to Toronto and were introduced to producer Gavin Brown by their old manager. The band gave Brown a private set, and he selected what he felt were the most promising tracks. The group then produced a demo for EMI Music Publishing Canada. With Brown at the helm, Three Days Grace recorded "(I Hate) Everything About You." The tune got them a publishing deal with EMI, and they soon were signed to Jive after being courted by the company's president. Brown and Three Days Grace were sent to a studio in Boston, MA, to start the group's debut album. The band completed its self-titled full-length in Woodstock, NY, at an isolated location free from big-city distractions. Heavily influenced by Kyuss and Sunny Day Real Estate, the dark, angst-ridden tales of small-town love and hate on Three Days Grace brought the group a Next Big Thing tag. Three Days Grace was released on July 22, 2003, by which time "(I Hate) Everything About You" was already hit on alternative radio stations in Canada. ~ Michael Sutton, All Music Guide

Written by Michael Sutton

10 Years Bio

2006-05-22T02:09:00.000-04:00

Based in Knoxville, Tennessee, 10 Years is an alternative hard rock band with an incomparable sound that is destined to create an island of its own. Formed three years ago, 10 Years created a strong underground following with their independent release Killing All That Holds You. In 2005, 10 Years signed with Republic/Universal Records, entered the studio with producer Josh Abraham (Staind, Velvet Revolver) and recorded their debut album The Autumn Effect.

The Autumn Effect has arrived just in time to counteract the cynicism and to take rock music to its next logical destination. "Humanity is slowly shutting down," says the band's frontman Jesse Hasek, who points to the current rock scene as a prime example of this lack of community. "Music is supposed to be about intensity and feeling, but there's no thinking behind the music that's out there today. We want people to think, to feel emotions again. We're always plugged in, or connected to something, part of the machine, but the more we plug in, the less human we become."

10 Years has evolved from a wake of high school metal bands, to the more melodic, heavy fusion of The Autumn Effect. "Less is more," the band says of their sound, and nowhere is that more apparent than the summer radio hit, "Wasteland." The title track swirls as an intrepid soundscape with an influx of modern aggression, from a whisper to a scream that could fill a stadium, from strum to angst and back again. Sledgehammer riffs propel the cosmic "Empires," while the sun-drenched "Prey" builds into a heavy metal gape, the perfect combination of breezy pacing and humid undertones. Melody marches through "Waking Up" and "The Recipe" is an exhilarating blitz of frenetic energy, while "Half-Life" kicks the ears in, each track exhibiting a new, distant depth of 10 Years' that seamlessly stretch them, morphing into a progressive realm far beyond the scope of modern flash-in-the-pan comparisons.

The Autumn Effect resonates as much lyrically as it does musically. "Prey," for instance, was inspired by the band's move to Los Angeles to record their debut album, and Hasek's observation that people in L.A. drive cars worth more than some of the houses in their Tennessee hometown. "Empires" is about this generation of people who are addicted to material possessions and rely upon these possessions to satisfy all the needs of life. "The Recipe" is about how casual consumption of lust with random strangers devalues and destroys the ability to love. "We are living in an individualistic ego driven society that celebrates fame, lacks ambiguity that is incapable of deep sustained attention with no discontinuity between life and art. "Seasons To Cycles" is about people who build walls to separate themselves from others. In building walls we lose contact with people and we don't realize these same walls confine the growth of relationships. Whether we're talking about love, substance abuse, temptation, or whatever, all the songs are about life, and the emotions that we all go through," says Hasek. "Life is an organic process of growth and decay, and it is unavoidable in nature."

In 2004 and 2005, 10 Years has opened for the likes of Velvet Revolver and Static X, more than holding their own, while making new fans all along the way. 10 Years offer more than just music and words they deliver a mission statement: just call The Autumn Effect the soundtrack to our new and improved lives, a signpost to a future where we're more than just cogs in the machine, but vibrant beings that can touch the God within.
Written by Record Label

Flyleaf Bio

2006-05-19T02:08:00.000-04:00

Heavy music and pained lyrics go together like cake and ice cream, and Belton, Texas quintet, Flyleaf, aren't about to break with tradition. But while many loud rockers reopen old wounds by singing about their broken homes and broken hearts, Flyleaf confront past traumas to heal old scars and prove in the process that hope shines brighter than despair.

"I used to be in a really negative band, and that seemed to almost fuel my emptiness because that's what the songs were about," says charismatic singer Lacey Mosley. "That's why I think what we're doing is important because there needs to be something heavy out there that has a positive message so people see that it's possible to get through the worst situations."

Flyleaf's self-titled debut album echoes with songs about abuse, neglect, addiction, and dysfunction, and messages about overcoming adversity. And the band's wide array of brooding beats, atmospheric textures and lunging riffs compliment Mosley's emotionally revealing lyrics, which range from breathy and beautiful to scathing and aggressive.

"I'm So Sick," starts with a moody bass line throbbing over a haunting ethereal vocal before guitars crash in like a rock through a plate-glass window. The track see-saws between rage and reflection, guitarists Sameer Bhattacharya and Jared Hartmann providing textural flourishes and atmospheric touches that bridge the emotional shifts. "Cassie" layers stop-start guitars atop an urgent backbeat and builds to an exultant chorus. "All Around You" augments a wall of power chords with evocative jazzy licks and "Fully Alive" is a cinematic number with angry muted riffs that segue into another glorious refrain.

Flyleaf's infectiously heavy positivism is all the more surprising considering Mosley's struggles while growing up. "My mom was a young single mother of six," she explains. "We didn't have money and things were hard for all of us. We moved whenever we couldn't make ends meet in one place, and that happened pretty often so there was a lot of struggling, suffering, and character building."

"It's easy to get depressed when you're dealing with that kind of stress," she continues, "especially when it looks like things will never get better. There was nothing constant in my life, and nothing to believe in. I got into some really bad stuff that I thought would make me feel more loved, or maybe just numb, but it cost me everything that was important to me, and literally almost took my life."

When you take a dive, sometimes you have to hit the bottom before you can swim your way back to the top. For Mosley, writing songs about survival helped her reach the surface and breathe again. "I had to lose everything to look up and see that there is a truly constant hope of a happy ending and that's what we make music for," she says. "If my music helps one person, than it's worth having been through what I've experienced."

Five years ago, Mosley started playing music with drummer James Culpepper. The two joined up with Bhattacharya and Hartmann, who were in a local band that had just split up. "Our first practice together was awesome," Mosley says. "Sameer and Jared are really experimental with melodies and pedals, and we all had different influences that were all blending together with the same passionate and hopeful heart, and that brought out this beautiful feeling. It was magical." Bassist Pat Seals joined in 2002. "The doors were open and I just happened to walk through at the right time," Seals says.

Flyleaf played anywhere they could slowly but consistently increased their fan base with local bands and national acts like Riddlin Kids, Bowling For Soup, Fishbone, and Evanescence. Eventually they landed a show at Austin's legendary annual music convention South by Southwest in 2003. Although their set started at the un-rock -n' roll time of 5 p.m., they rocked the house, which lead to a showcase for various labels. After many meetings and much deliberation, Flyleaf signed with Octone.

In early 2005 the band's self-titled debut EP-- produced by Rick Parasher (Pearl Jam, Blind Melon) and Brad Cook (Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age)--was released and listeners got a taste of the band's poignant song craft through tracks like "Breathe Today," "Cassie," and "I'm Sorry" (which also appear on Flyleaf's full-length). To support the EP, Flyleaf toured with Saliva, Breaking Benjamin, 3 Doors Down, Staind. and Trust Company. Though many of the audiences had no idea who Flyleaf were when they started playing, every night their spirited performances earned them new fans.

"We think about where we started and where we are and realize, 'Wow, we are playing in front of 1000 people tonight.' And then we just can't be thankful enough to those bands who gave us a chance to play with them, even though we are sort of nobodies."

In spring 2005, Flyleaf recorded their full-length debut with acclaimed producer Howard Benson, who has previously worked with Papa Roach, My Chemical Romance, P.O.D., and All American Rejects. Flyleaf stayed in Los Angeles for two months and worked on more than 20 songs with Benson at Bay 7 Studios. Together they decided on 12 of them to arrange, fine tune, and shape so they best reflected the group's powerful messages and experiences.

"He really took an interest in what we had to say and helped put all the parts in the right places," Mosley says. "We were so used to recording with our friends and finishing whole EPs in a few hours. So it was great to spend two months with Howard having this surreal professional experience in every part of the process."

"A flyleaf is the blank page at the front of a book," explains Mosley. "It's the dedication page, the place you write a message to someone you're giving a book to. And, that's kind of what our songs are: personal messages that provide a few moments of clarity before the story begins."

With their tight-knit chemistry, compassionate approach ,and songs that haunt the mind hours after they've stopped playing, Flyleaf are turning heads and leaving crowds wanting more. Indeed, their story has just begun.
Written by Record Label

Hurt Bio

2006-05-18T10:22:00.000-04:00

Indeed, this young band and its ambitious debut album certainly live up to the name. “Why is the band called Hurt?” asks front man J. Loren with characteristic intensity. “Have you heard the CD? Does it seem applicable?”

“I felt that was definitely the word,” he continues. “It had to be called that.”

The LP veers between whispering and roaring, melody and brutality, crushing power chords and gentle acoustic moments. The convergence of those extremes—delivered in irregular time signature with orchestration, no less—define the “Hurt” sound. Yet just when it seems that it’s all thunder and lightning, eight songs into the album the lighthearted “Danse Russe” comes soaring in like a break in the clouds, its cheerful melody and gentle acoustic guitars displaying a drastically different side of the band.
"...My first impression was, who is this guy? I can't understand him; he's so weird and obscure.."

Traces of Tool, Nirvana, and mid-period Metallica flicker throughout the album, but Hurt have created a remarkably individual sound for a debut. It is mainstream enough to fit in on rock radio, yet unusual and edgy enough to appeal to the fringes—and those extremes are echoed in the band’s two core members.

The songs, singing and guitar playing emanate from one J. Loren—the 24-year-old product of a strict home in rural Virginia, reared on a steady diet of religion, gospel and classical music and home schooling. He studied classical violin, can play virtually any stringed instrument and, as he puts it, “played many a hoedown,” but rock was forbidden. He never even heard rock music properly until, one day in his teens, “I just happened to be at a friend’s house and I heard Pearl Jam’s ‘Jeremy’ on TV. It stopped me in my tracks. Classical was really the only music I had gotten into like that.” He cites Vivaldi as his strongest influence.

The yin to J.’s yang is drummer Evan Johns, also 24, who was raised in Hollywood in just about the most rock environment possible: His dad is Andy Johns (who engineered or produced Led Zeppelin, the Stones, Joni Mitchell, Rod Stewart, Free, Television, Cinderella, Van Halen and countless others), his uncle is Glyn Johns (ditto the Who, Stones, Kinks, Eagles, Clapton, Faces—do we need to go on?) and his cousin is Ethan Johns (ditto Emmylou Harris, Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon and Rufus Wainwright).
"I try to convey principles rather than trying to preach my own story, so that people can apply them to their own lives."

While that background evokes visions of young Evan doing homework in the middle of scenes from “Almost Famous,” the reality was about half that. “A lot of my elementary years were spent hanging out with Cinderella or Van Halen—we’d have them over for dinner or the holidays,” he recalls. “And I was always hanging around the studio. The drums looked like the coolest thing, and I bugged my dad like crazy and finally, when I was about five, he bought me and my brother kid-size drums kits.”

Not that his early efforts were encouraged. “When I first started out, my dad told me I was no good and I should just give up. But after awhile he was like, ‘Hey, you’re not so bad, keep it up.’ It just made me try harder—every day after school for four hours.”

He started gigging before he was even in his teens. “I’d be in bands with 30- and 40-year-olds, waiting outside until it was time to play because I was underage. Then I’d go home with mom because it was a school night.” He focused on jazz drumming during high school to expand his vocabulary, but plunged back into rock after graduation, playing in a series of “mostly heavy” bands until one day …
"I'd be in bands with 30- and 40-year-olds, waiting outside until it was time to play because I was underage."

“This friend of my dad’s had a CD of some of J.’s songs. He was like, ‘Andy, this is great just don’t pay attention to the drums, just listen to the singer.’ And my dad said, ‘If you need a drummer you should check out my son.’ ”

J., all the while, had been gigging with a succession of different musicians, always under the name Hurt and was growing frustrated.

“I’d almost given up on playing music,” he recalls. “I was working for technology companies as a contract consultant, I was engaged and I was very, very sorrowful about abandoning music. Then, I decided to give it one more go…”

A few months later in L.A., Evan’s dad’s friend heeded his advice and arranged for J. Loren to be on a plane to L.A. to meet and try some recording together. “I went into the studio with J. and right away, I was like, I’ve gotta get in on this,” Evan remembers. “We started on a trial basis in August 2004, like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna record these demos and see what happens’—and I loved it.”
"She swore she heard the voice of Jesus / Telling her 'It was wrong to keep it'"

Of course, it wasn’t really that simple. “The first time I met J. it was really weird because we had only talked on the phone, and we were trying to feel each other out from thousands of miles away. And when he came out here, my first impression was, who is this guy? I can’t understand him; he’s so weird and obscure. But when we started playing together, it was like, ‘Okay, cool—I know what to do here, I feel comfortable.’ And then he turned out to have a heart of gold.” J. and Evan worked up an abundance of material for a few months before plunging into the studio to begin work on two albums the first of which is “Vol. I”. They were assisted initially by ex-Beck bassist, Justin Meldal Johnson. (Two New Jersey-born musicians, guitarist Paul Spatola and bassist Josh Ansley have since joined them.)

Getting J. to discuss the emotions and inspiration behind the songs is no easy feat. One passage from “Rapture” reads, “She swore she heard the voice of Jesus / Telling her ‘It was wrong to keep it’ / And one more thing, it looked like me”; one from “Falls Apart” goes “Our skin tears away as our memories fade with age / And we don’t even know till it’s gone … Woe is me.”

“I try to convey principles rather than trying to preach my own story, so that people can apply them to their own lives,” he says. He allows that “Rapture” is about the “danger in setting yourself up as god,” that “Danse Russe” was inspired by poet William Carlos Williams and “a two-day experience with a lovely person,” and that “Losing” was written “after I saw Evan’s ability on the drums. I was like [chuckles sinisterly], ‘Hey buddy, I got somethin’ for you!’ ”

And as for the intensity that runs through every thing his band does, J.Loren simply says, “If I’m not going to affect someone in some way, why do anything at all?”

Source: HurtBand.com