Black Diamond Love hails from the City of Angels with a neo-funk, sultry,  female-fronted version of Monster Magnet. “Teacher Preacher” is one of the most unique songs on No Lip Vol. 2, with its Latin flavored riff rock and powerful vocals. The band got together and brought up us to speed on the status of the LA Music Scene, replacing their guitarist and learning things the hard way.

1) Tell us a bit about your song on the No Lip Vol. 2 compilation.
Teacher Preacher is not about anything religious though at first it could definitely be taken that way. Instead it’s using the motif of a self righteous preacher as a critique of a certain mentality. At it’s heart the world is a beautiful place to be, and the humans who inhabit it are fundamentally noble. While some people do have much tougher lives than others, there’s always that one guy who is super pissed at the world. The guy who thinks the world is out to get him and who is just as ready to spite the world back – this attitude is often accompanied with a heavy dose of self righteousness. So whoever they may be, politicians, preachers, extremeists – all the peeps angry at the world, Teacher Preacher is for them.

2) How is the music scene doing in your town? What can be done to improve it?
Los Angeles has an awesome music scene – it’s just a little hard to find. Many new comers to L.A. think that the Sunset strip is where it’s at. Getting booked at The Roxy or The Whisky is usually at the top of people’s lists, but in reality the real scene is elsewhere. Places like Spaceland, The Echo, and The Smell are great examples of this. These venues totally off the beaten path that have a vibrant scene and a consistent die hard crowd. People come to Spaceland sometimes not even knowing who’s on the bill – they just know it’s going to be a good show. The smell didn’t even have a stage for several years but all of the best upcoming bands played there. Also magazines like MetroMix, ezines like Oh My Rockness, and DIY towns like Silverlake and Echo Park really provide that essential buzz about the scene and the bands that make it rad.

The fact of the matter is, just like Austin and New York, swarms of people come to this city every day with big dreams and aspirations. Many of them are ultra talented, ultra driven, and willing to make sacrifices and go the extra mile to rock your socks off. This is good and bad if you’re someone in a baby band. It’s good because it makes things like finding a new player for your group pretty easy, but it’s hard because there’s so many other bands that getting booked at the best places is really tough. All the radio stations are inundated with new stuff, what’s left of the record industry is still ultra connected, and there’s a ton of pay-to-play going on (especially on the strip). To make matters even tougher on any day of the week some ultra famous band is playing at one of the huge venues – which is awesome if it’s a band you love, but it also means no one’s going to come see you play a show on the same night that Radiohead is playing the Hollywood Bowl.

3) Why did you decide to go with Mohawk Bomb Records on this comp?
With a name like Mohawk Bomb it already had my nod of approval. We’re definitely a baby band and so doing something like this was an important step for us. We’re still learning the ropes with all this stuff and to be sure there have been some hard lessons. Our naivete is hard to hide at times, but Mohawk Bomb has been super patient and supportive even when they probably should have told us to sod off. Moreover they’ve picked a great selection of material that really gels together. Many compilations feel very random, each song being so suddenly different from the next – Mohawk Bomb Volume 2 is very cohesive and we’re stoked to have been included on it.

4) What are your plans for 2009?
In 2008 we lost our guitarist Chachi basically right as we went in to record our first full length album. He was going through a tough time in his personal life and he just had to leave Los Angeles. The band took it pretty hard, we love the guy and it was very unexpected. Moreover no one wanted to replace him. We’re a family and it just didn’t seem right to bring someone else in like we were replacing a battery. We reworked what material we could and ended up recording only six songs including Teacher Preacher, which is on this compilation.

2009 is going to be interesting because after going through all of that we sort of turned into a different band. In the past there was sort of an inner need to show off and prove something. Knock on wood, but I think we’ve emerged from that as better song writers. In the meantime we’ve attracted the interest of producer Jim Huff. He’s just a neat human and he seems to have a deep grasp on what makes music good – and even what makes life good. He’s worked with some rad blues musicians in the past and that resonates with the roots rock vibe that we’ve been developing. Hopefully 2009 will find us doing an album with him (fingers crossed), but wherever it leads us it’s probably going to be another roller coaster ride of emotions, music, and hard knocks.

Check Black Diamond Love out on MySpace ››

VerleeRose is Keira Verlee and Ellie Rose. They are two 14-year-old singer/songwriters from Seattle, WA. Formed  at a Seattle area middle school in 2005, VerleeRose spent last summer writing songs and rehearsing and are releasing a new CD very soon entitled These Moments. These two very talented youngins have been making the rounds in Seattle coffee houses and we expect 2009 to be a very big year for them. The girls took some time to fill us in on their plans and tell us about their song “Nowhere” on No Lip Vol. 2.

1) Tell us a bit about your song on the No Lip Vol. 2 compilation.
We wrote the song Nowhere in the summer of 2008 on Ellie’s boat… that she lives on. Its about being confused and wanting to get away from your daily troubles. Wishing there was a place where you just don’t have to think about anything.

2) How is the music scene doing in your town? What can be done to improve it?
The music scene in Seattle is pretty cool. There are lots of places that do all ages shows which is great for us since we are 14 & 15. There are also a few bars that allow minors to play and that’s been a lot of fun too. Not really sure how to improve the scene here since we don’t have much to compare it to.

3) Why did you decide to go with Mohawk Bomb Records on this comp?
We found Mohawk Bomb through Sonicbids and since the label is in Florida and we’re in Seatle it seemed like a great way to get our music out there. All the other bands on No Lip 2 are great and we’re really excited to be part of it!

4) What are your plans for 2009?
Our debut CD comes out in March and we’re just going to play as much as we can to support it. We might do a West Coast tour in the summer and we’re working on some new songs so we might go back into the studio in the fall.

You can purchase VerleeRose’s CD from CDBaby

Mixing indie rock polyphony with pop songsmithing, Drew Street Mary’s sound falls somewhere in the sounscape laid down by The Beatles, Seville and Soul Asylum. Back again on No Lip Vol. 2, this hard-working Tampa-based quartet have big dreams and even bigger plans. Guitarist Bobby Morelli took some time to share his thoughts on the Tampa Bay music scene and what 2009 holds in store for DSM.

1) Tell us a bit about your song on the No Lip Vol. 2 compilation.
Our song on the comp is “Barfly” and it was written in the spring of 2008 after seeing the same person at a few shows and wondering what day-to-day life and relationships might be like for them. We don’t typically “reveal” what our songs are about, we’d rather leave it up to the listener’s interpretation so that’s all you’re gonna get!

2) How is the music scene doing in your town? What can be done to improve it?
We feel like the scene here is Tampa is not that bad, and from our point of view a sense of camaraderie and common purpose is starting to develop which should do nothing but foster growth and interest in the local music scene.

3) Why did you decide to go with Mohawk Bomb Records on this comp?
We’ve known Ivan for a while now and we’re thankful to be working with him. The previous question asks about the “scene”, well Mohawk is founded in Fla – what better way to grow the scene then to work with the scene.

4) What are your plans for 2009?
Man, where to start! We’re trying to get every thing from new press pictures, to playing more often outside of the immediate Tampa Bay area, to radio airplay, and on and on! We’ve taken more time as a band to brainstorm what our goals are for this year and to do our best to execute them.

Get more Drew Street Mary music on iTunes

Soulfound has been pounding the Florida pavement since 1999. With their full-on indie-cum-alternative original sound, they have moved over 10,000 CDs, played over 1,000 shows and seen most of the country without the support of a label. Signing with Mohawk Bomb Records in March 2008, Soulfound has been dubbed the “next big national modern rock band” by fans and critics. In 2009, Soulfound recorded “Temper, Temper” exclusively No Lip Vol. 2 before announcing a hiatus to begin in April. In the meantime, you can see Soulfound tearing up stages around Florida and on the Internet. Ivan Pena, CEO of Mohawk Bomb Records and singer/bassist for Soulfound, took some time to chime in on 4 Questions.

1) Tell us a bit about your song on the No Lip Vol. 2 compilation.
“Temper, Temper” was a song we wrote back in 2006 that got cut when we were recording “Is a Rock Band”. We didn’t cut it because we didn’t like it, just because we ran out of money. We love playing this song live and it brings a different dynamic to our set. The song itself is about dealing with rejection at the most personal of levels and realizing that sometimes its not your fault things happen and that people have conflicting agendas. I got burned and I wrote a song about it.

2) How is the music scene doing in your town? What can be done to improve it?
This town is sleeping right now. There are many excellent bands, but not enough support from the people and the venues. There needs to be a music stimulus package in Tampa Bay! We hope Mohawk Bomb Records is that stimulus package. So much talent in this town!

3) Why did you decide to go with Mohawk Bomb Records on this comp?
Because I own it.

4) What are your plans for 2009?
We released “Live at Zen Recording” a few weeks ago, so we will be pushing that for a bit. We are currently shooting a documentary about our last show in Gainesville and plan on taking a break for most of 2009 and work on other projects.  We have been going non-stop for the better part of 10 years and I feel like we deserve a break. Disqo and I will be working on some other side projects. Jonathan will be having surgery on his knee and Sam will be finishing up with school and get his Bachelors. We aren’t breaking up and we hope to be back later in 2009 or in early 2010 with a new CD.

Learn more about Soulfound

With their fusion of laptop beats and metal riffs, Soul Destroyer have made waves in London’s moshpits with their slick packaging of face distorting masks and sinister onstage personas. 2face, the band’s psychotically charming leader, took some time to fill us on in Soul Destroyer’s plans for USA domination in 2009.

1) Tell us a bit about your song on the No Lip Vol. 2 compilation.
“Seeing Red” was written in about 30 mins in spring of 2008 and concerns the horrors of depression, which are all too familiar to me. At that time I was particularly insane, drinking heavily and experimenting with “legal” stimulants (that really should be banned – they’re way too good) which, on top of prescribed medicines was only making things much, much worse…great fun though.

Anyway, suicide and/or mass murder seemed a fairly reasonable route to take at that point and I guess I was singing about how I could see why these nut jobs who go into public buildings with 3 guns, a rocket launcher and sack of grenades and take out 20 innocent, happy people then blow themselves to pieces, might reach a similar conclusion.

Luckily, I managed to calm down a bit, steered away from the legal highs for a while and, with a little help from my psychiatrist, have not considered any form of mass killing for several months. Not even a little one…

2) How is the music scene doing in your town? What can be done to improve it?
Where to begin? London’s music scene is, more than ever, being crippled by unscrupulous, unimaginative and greedy promoters all looking to make easy money. Luckily for them there’s a never ending supply of unscrupulous, unimaginative and conservative bands all trying to be the next Coldplay/Razorlight/Arctic-fucking-Monkeys, but without any ability. The result? On any given night there may be 100 gigs on around London, most of which are put together without any thought and go ahead without any audience. Pay-to-play is unfortunately still quite common as well. In short, there is no scene, just a ragbag of chancers and no hopers all flailing around in a sea of apathy trying to find a trend to cling to. Fuck ‘em all.

Then there’s the industry machine, which, despite being shaken to its foundations by the digital age, continues to be dominated by sheep blindly following each other to the next big thing (this week), asking each other if it’s any good, reading the NME and wishing it was the 90‘s. The only difference now is that they don’t even have to go out – just trawl round their mates’ recommended MySpace sites. Hopefully this global recession will flush out a lot of the crap in music, because it can’t continue as it is. And maybe the result will be a healthier, leaner, more dynamic industry producing more interesting stuff by interesting bands. Because, although DIY is the way forward (all SD stuff is, for instance, entirely written, performed, recorded, produced and mastered by ourselves) unfortunately, the big labels still hold the key to breaking a band. And, sadly, that is, and always will be, money.

What could be done to improve it? Apart from herding everyone involved into a shed and setting fire to it? I guess fewer venues putting on shite gigs would help. Trying to make gigs proper events that people WANT to go to, not things that they feel obliged to go to because their friend plays bass in that third-rate Keane copyist band who are first on at The Shit and Whistle in Camden…

Less bands would be good as well, because they are almost all RUBBISH. But, as long as the promoters can make a tidy living from charging a fee from five or six dissimilar and unconnected bands to play to an empty pub, I guess any scene will still be dictated by Our Lord, The Right Rev. Geoff Travis (the Simon Cowell of British “alternative” music scene). And he’s about 75 years old.

3) Why did you decide to go with Mohawk Bomb Records on this comp?
Well, apart from the fact that you asked us and we liked the label’s name and you are obviously trying to promote some cool music, we thought that a little exposure in the USA wouldn’t be a bad thing. Because Soul Destroyer is made for the American market, which is far less prejudiced than the British. Over here SD seem to be too metal for the pop kids, too pop for the metallers, too rock for the ravers, too dancey for the Goths and, despite our best attempts, not offensive enough for the punks. We’re also too old and too ugly for everyone, but there’s not much we can do about that…

4) What are your plans for 2009?
We have about 20 tracks recorded for our 2nd album, so we’ll be selecting the best of those and releasing them in a very minimalist way (i.e. download only, direct from our MySpace) in the summer. We’ll end up playing some shit gigs around London (see above) and then I intend to take a few months out and party relentlessly at Soul Destroyer’s cliff top mansion in Guadaloupe. Regrettably, I think Mr 138 (guitar) is due back in jail for a while in his native Sweden and as for D-K (jazz snake), I think he’s returning to the Sri Lankan clinic that fitted him with a new face last year. There’s been a few complications…

Learn more about Soul Destroyer on their MySpace page

With their reggae inspired blend of modern pop, Offshore Riot seem to have that special ingredient often missing in today’s over-produced, sample based music scene. Catchy, hook-laden originals take the focus here. Deep funk and dub rhythms, basslines dropping low as physically tolerable, shimmering guitar lines and erratic vocal stylings make up an undeniable force comparable to the hurricanes often looming on Florida’s coastlines. Main man Tyson Marshall (vocals, guitar) took a few minutes to fill us in on what 2009 holds for Offshore Riot.

1) Tell us a bit about your song on the No Lip Vol. 2 compilation.
We wrote “Wanton Soup” a couple years ago around the Hurricane Katrina crisis up in the Gulf and the Tsunami catastrophe in Asia time period. Not a deep song by any means, but I wanted to write the lyrics more towards overcoming adversity and looking for those little great things in life to take our minds, if not briefly, off of the great negative situations that often, but temporarily engulf our lives. And we like Chinese food.

2) How is the music scene doing in your town? What can be done to improve it?
The music scene around the Tampa Bay area has been a little wobbly for quite a few years now. There is a lot of talent and good bands, everybody has such a unique sound that it’s hard to peg where a movement might begin.

3) Why did you decide to go with Mohawk Bomb Records on this comp?
We were excited to work with Ivan and Mohawk Bomb out of the shear passion Ivan shows for music and promoting others as well as his own projects. We all got to work together in this field, and Mohawk Bomb really hits the core of that.

4) What are your plans for 2009?
2009 we plan on having our second album released, start a southeastern tour of the states and bring the party out to anywhere or anyone with open arms!

Learn more about Offshore Riot on their MySpace

Ascending to Avalon was started in March 2008, when Ryen Gerson (vocals, guitar) started jamming with Lance Miller (drums) and Eric Bourne (guitar) on some material that sat around in the depths of his mind. The trio quickly formed a bond which led them to record over 20 original songs and put forth a rough demo recorded in Ryen’s basement. Ascending to Avalon has spent the last 3 months hard at work perfecting songs out of their catalog of originals with the intent of putting forth an EP slated for release late May/early June. Ryen took out some time to discuss their song “Salvation” and when we can expect their first official release.

1) Tell us a bit about your song on the No Lip Vol. 2 compilation.
“Salvation” is a song about finding confidence in yourself no matter what, hard as it is and tough as it can get, I believe people should always rely on themselves and their loved ones to help them through turbulent times. The song was no more than the main riff you hear in the beginning. Over a year ago I had fumbled around with some arrangements and guitar parts for the choruses and verses, one day I just put up some mics and thought “I won’t over think it!” and that’s how the version of “Salvation” came to be. Then as a band we jammed on it for several months feeling out the song. When we felt like we had reached a good place with it we holed up in studio and put it tape! The track was produced by Ivan Pena  of Mohawk Bomb Records.

2) How is the music scene doing in your town? What can be done to improve it?
The music scene in Tampa isn’t dying, but it could sure use a blood transfusion. Metal bands have always been the popular around here for as long as i can remember. The Tampa Bay music scene is in need of band/fan interaction, that’s what’s missing from live shows. People need to connect with the bands they see on stage in order for it to create a bigger buzz. Bands need to be aggressive about their music, sell their music. Bands, your music IS your soul. It is your passion! so use that and bring those emotions onto the stage and into every interaction with a club owner or a fan or anyone who is interested in you!

3) Why did you decide to go with Mohawk Bomb Records on this comp?
Mohawk’s motto is something we as band agree with. They have the desire to put forth new music in new and creative ways. They care about their artists and they care about their product. This isn’t just a business for them, it’s a way of life. It’s a passion. That was the most appealing factor.

4) What are your plans for 2009?
Come the summer time, Mohawk Bomb will put forth our first release, which will be a 7-song EP called “Quiet Before The Storm” Look for that in the coming months as well as touring Florida and writing new material for our first full length sometime late this year.

Learn more about Ascending to Avalon on their MySpace page

Husband-wife team, Tish Meeks (lead vocals, guitar) and Tony Meeks (guitar) launched 3 Kisses in Austin, TX, in January 2004 and since that time the band has released 3 CDs, performed hundreds of live shows and played for crowds as large as 50,000. Tish and Tony Meeks were recently featured on ABC’s ‘Wife Swap’ performing for close to 15 million viewers. Tish took a few minutes to chat with us about No Lip Vol. 2 and their plans for 2009.

1) Tell us a bit about your song on the No Lip Vol. 2 compilation.
Tony and I wrote “American Breakdown” in 2007, but it didn’t fully come together until Sean and Brian joined the band.  It is about the state of things in America and how it affects your average middle class American.

2) How is the music scene doing in your town?
We are halfway between Houston and Austin and I’d have to say the scene in Houston is considerably better.  Austin is saturated with bands and venues had rather let a horrible band play for free rather than pay a good band.  There are some great venues in Houston who really take care of their bands.

3) Why did you decide to go with Mohawk Bomb Records on this comp?
I met Ivan at the Rock Solid Pressure Showcase in New Port Richey, FL, back in September.  We’ve been working with Patty & J-Rock for years, so I knew if they we’re working with Ivan, he had to be a good guy.  I think it will be great exposure!

4) What are your plans for 2009?
Our new CD, “American Breakdown” will be released February 1 and we’ll follow that up with lots of regional and national touring, music festivals, then close out the year with a tour in Germany.  We also plan to shoot a music video and a reality TV show pilot.

Learn more about 3 Kisses and buy some merch on Rat Pak Records’ Website.

Wits End was formed in the Conejo Valley region of Ventura County, CA and consists of songwriters Tom Robinson (vocals & rhythm guitar) and  Joe Peters (bass), Carl Britton (drums) and lead guitarist & producer Ted Scarlett. Wits End is a mixture of classic guitar pop with first rate songwriting with a vibe all their own. A rarity in this age of disposable pop.

1) Tell us a bit about your song on the No Lip Vol. 2 compilation.
“Goodbye Misery” was written a few years back. The song’s main theme is about escaping the pressures of city life and trying to find peace & serenity within yourself.

2) How is the music scene doing in your town? What can be done to improve it?
The Los Angeles music scene is sterile at best. There’s no forum for nurturing bands and encouraging creativity. Playing live can be a very unrewarding experience of dives, pay to play gigs and minimal reception for passionate music.

3) Why did you decide to go with Mohawk Bomb Records on this comp?
We respect Mohawk Bomb’s open door policy for new and exciting music.

4) What are your plans for 2009?
We are currently in pre production for a new full length release to be available by summer ’09 that’ll feature “Goodbye Misery” along with 11 other Wits End rockers.

Learn more about Wits End on their MySpace page. You can purchase their CD “Rut-o-Rama” on CDBaby and iTunes.