Producer Profiles...Brian Howes

Like a lot of producers, Brian Howes had been an artist himself. Back in 1999, he'd been the lead singer of a ska/punk-funk band called DDT.

As a matter of fact, he'd been active as of 2003 as the lead singer of Closure. Nice segue, huh?

Closure had been on TVT Records and actually toured with labelmates Sevendust. They'd also toured with 12 Stones, Trapt, and Buckcherry.

Brian Howes hit the ground running as the producer of Closure's record. Unfortunately, in 2006, they listed that they no longer had a label.

But that didn't stop Brian Howes from working with other bands, grooming them into supergroups by writing and producing their albums.

In 2005, he'd worked with Canadian pop-punk band Hedley. They were written off and critically panned. However, their debut album spawned six Canadian singles and a double-platinum record.

Howes would out do himself later that year working on the major-label debut album of an up-and-coming midwestern band called Hinder. Again, the album itself was critically panned. In 2006 though, the album took off. As of January of 2008, Extreme Behavior is a triple-platinum album in the States.

In 2006, Skillet's John Cooper, became a big fan of the record and wanted to work with Brian Howes on their Atlantic debut, Comatose. The album is Skillet's best-selling record to date, selling over 300,000 records.

Also in 2006, he worked with Chris Daughtry, with whom he co-wrote "What I Want" and "Over You" to rock and top 40 success. The album is currently the most successful he's worked on to date going quadruple platinum as of April of 2008.

It was then that Brian became noticed by industry majors. In 2007, aside from working with Canadian artist Faber Drive and Puddle of Mudd, Jimmy Iovine signed him to a deal with Interscope Records to develop their artists. His first order of business...

Revelation Theory dropped the "-elation" this year and released their major-label self-titled debut.

With all the success Brian's achieved as a producer, it seems that Brian is ready to crossover to other formats.

He is on the verge of more multi-platinum success.

A band a day...Adelita's Way

What do you get when you mix bright lights, expensive cars and sin? If you guessed The Fast and the Furious, you'd be wrong. I'm talking about Vegas, baby! Vegas and Adelita's Way.

Adelita's Way is:

Rick DeJesus: Lead vocals

Chris Iorio: Guitar

Chris Clemence: Bass

T-Reks: Drums

Adelita's Way is Fuel with a mixture of Daughtry and Closure.

Rick DeJesus is a reality television veteran. He'd been cast on VH1's Strip Search and won and he'd also been cast on E!'s Paradise City.

Chris Iorio is going to star on an MTV show of his own later this year.

But don't let the attention whoring fool you...this band is WORTH whoring for with powerful vocals and hooks that make pirates jealous.

They'd signed a demo deal to Interscope Records and is currently managed by Larry Rudolph who used to manage nobody important. 

They're currently unsigned, but that's not stopping hit producers from signing on. Brian Howes and Skidd Mills are currently working on finishing their upcoming album.

I didn't find much about them unfortunately aside from a live performance, a cover of Closure's Look Out Below.

A band...er...an artist a day...Brooke Barrettsmith.

You know that old-school disco-era song Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel?

The first two lines of the song may very well apply to 26-year-old Brooke Barrettsmith.

Brooke Barrettsmith's band includes:

Billy Adams: Lead and rhythm guitars and road manager

Phill Grooms: Bass

Matt Stephens: Drums

This young songwriter/guitar player/piano player spent a chunk of her teenage years performing in a group with her family, including her sister Juleah. Her mother was an opera singer and her father was a session drummer, so the bloodlines are filled with talent.

This Chicago native went on to audition for American Idol's fifth season with her sister, which was pretty forgettable, well...almost.

She and her sister didn't make it too far, but not very long after, Brooke was signed onto Sony Essential Records.

Brooke's music is inspired by secular artists (Daughtry and Jimmy Eat World) as well as Christian artists (Pillar and Skillet).

She's not the only Idol hopeful to step into the Christian music world...but she may have more potential than any of the artists I listed.

This year, Brooke joined Pillar for their For the Love of the Game tour. Her album drops on August 19th and may set the standard for contemporary Christian albums this year.

In the meantime, there are live videos of Farewell, More Real, and a random video of Anymore which features Rob Beckley and Lester Estelle of Pillar...there are two drummers playing on that song at the same time!

Producer Profiles: David Bendeth

They are unsung heroes. Producers don't just press buttons, they help find an artist's voice and I intend to find ten rock producers that do just that. I'm going to run down my favorite producers because I feel that they don't get nearly enough credit.

I start with my first producer, David Bendeth.

David Bendeth was actually an artist himself. He did well in his native England, going on to release three albums.

He produced his last two albums and that's when he got the ball rolling on producing other artists. He'd gone back and forth from London to Toronto and in the mid 80's produced his first major artist in Canada called Platinum Blonde.

He eventually moved to New York where he actually became part of the industry and then back to Toronto as an VP A&R for BMG Canada where he helped sign artists such as Crash Test Dummies and Treble Charger in the mid 90s.

He moved back to New York and became an A&R for RCA Records where in 1997, he was responsible for signing Treble Charger to an American deal, SR-71 and Vertical Horizon.

A few years later, he would get his first taste of huge success as a producer when he produced Vertical Horizon's Everything You Want in 1999. Everything You Want, Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning) and You're A God became huge hits back in early 2000.

In 2000, he would also produce SR-71 and a young artist (Mitch Allan) who would become a hit songwriter. He also produced their next album in 2002.

In 2002, he would oversee Elvis' 30 #1 Hits album which would go on to sell millions worldwide and became the #2 best-selling record worldwide that year.

It was after SR-71's Tomorrow where he would focus almost entirely on hard rock.

He went on to produce 40 Below Summer in 2003.

In 2004, he went Cold. So Cold. He produced two of the most instantly recognizable rock songs that year.

He produced an underground band that was trying to achieve mainstream success called Candiria. He also mixed the title track for Killswitch Engage's breakthrough album, The End of Heartache.

In 2005, Bendeth would produce more up-and-coming talent such as Fivespeed, Dropping Daylight, and Hawthorne Heights.

His relationship flourished with Breaking Benjamin in 2006, where he would produce their most successful album-to-date radio wise with Phobia.

He also produced or mixed for The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and Pillar.

In 2007, he'd work with a young artist that was ready to break out called Paramore. Producing the album RIOT! earned Paramore a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.

He would also help produce Bloodsimple and The Almost.

In 2008, he's been in the works to make albums or mix singles for Dark New Day, Making April, Capital Lights, Search the City, There for Tomorrow, Nural, Underoath, and his friends in

Breaking Benjamin.

Believe it or not, this 50-something from Jersey is the face of modern rock.

Music Industry Ideas: Part I

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I was going to post ideas that I think the music industry would benefit from.

The music industry, as mentioned before, is in a huge slump at least when it comes to physical CD sales and the digital sales are not making up for it.

Perhaps these ideas don't fit, but I just wanted to throw them out there.

The first idea is actually something that's been making headlines recently.

Nine Inch Nails has given fans plenty of options to purchase albums. I believe that labels should take that philosophy and give fans the ability to listen to albums before others do.

I think that the minute that a label approves an album, they should make options available that day for purchasing an album.

For instance, you pre-order an album for $5-$10 more than the regular price, you should get the album on the day you pre-order it as MP3's and a code to download B-sides, live tracks, and videos over time. If you pre-order for $15 or more, you get the album that day as MP3's, the code and you get the album physically shipped to you and so on and so forth.

If you've ever bought an album that came with a fan club option, this would be it, but better.

Most of the time, people are disappointed with the fan club albums because they don't get that kind of access when there's only a year membership. You may only see that particular band once in that year live. I think if you offer fans more, they'd be willing to pay a little extra for it.

It'd revolutionize the music industry because this would force labels to think about sales other than first-week sales. If something like this actually became successful, it could even force radio stations to become a bit more freeform.

For instance, let's just say you bought Metallica's Death Magnetic today, got the entire album today and had no idea what the first single was. You get enough people that bought that album, they call stations to dictate what they want to hear.

I think the general idea you're going to get out of these ideas is the idea of freedom and giving back to the fan. Just not for free.

A band a day...Straight Line Stitch

Last year marked the beginning of Raging Nation Records, a new imprint on Koch Records that was formed by famed music video director Dale "Rage" Resteghini.

"Rage", as he's known in the business, is well known for shooting hip-hop and R&B videos as well as videos for metal bands. Enter Straight Line Stitch.

Straight Line Stitch is:

Alexis Brown: vocals

Seth Thacker: guitar

Pat Pattison: guitar

Jason White: bass

Patrick Haynes: drums

Take Arch Enemy's Angela Gossow, mix her vocals with Morgan Lander of Kittie and make her the lead singer of God Forbid and you may have something that sounds like SLS. Take that, Wicked Wisdom!

Straight Line Stitch comes from Knoxville, Tennessee and formed in 2003.

When it comes to metal bands from Tennessee, they're the only 10 I see.

Alexis Brown is a firecracker. It's rare to find a metal vocalist who lists influences ranging from Cab Calloway to Lamb of God. Somehow, she makes that shit work.

On August 19th, Straight Line Stitch will become the first artist to release an album on Raging Nation's Koch imprint.

They're already starting quite the buzz in the metal world...they're currently on tour with Bleed the Sky and will be opening for 36 Crazyfists in September. They've also had shows opening for Slayer, Staind, and Chevelle.

She's not just a great growler...her best moments on When Skies Wash Ashore will be when she's singing ("Promise Me").

They're not going to be a band like Flyleaf that goes platinum off of a record and put out songs that appeal to everyone, but they have a sound that is undeniably every bit as powerful and every bit as intense.

Check out videos for Remission and Black Veil.

Here are live performances of Taste of Ashes and Black Veil. Now THAT'S how you gain a reputation.

A band a day...Broken Iris

Broken Iris is a band that mixes ambient rock with atmospheric vocals to evoke intense music.

Broken Iris is...

Adam Roth: vocals

Alex Ashton: cello

David Christiansen: keyboard

Danny Cocke: guitar

Steve Avery: bass

Chris Brawley: drums

Take A Perfect Circle's vocals, Radiohead's atmospheric music, Evans Blue's intensity and mix them with One Republic's accessibility.

Broken Iris formed in 2005 in Sacramento, California. 

It's pretty rare that you find a regular cellist in a band. The only recent example I can think of is Tantric.

Anywho, they released their debut album, The Eyes of Tomorrow, in 2007 and it was inspired by a former guitarist's story.

They may be an unsigned artist, but there are a couple of songs that they have on that album that could be all over the country right now (Beautiful Girl and A New Hope). The harmonies built on the songs on this album with the vocals and piano/keyboards are amazing and worth listening to over and over.

If you go on their Myspace as of today, they have the title track of the album that's downloadable. The song "The Eyes of Tomorrow" is definitely the cure for your recession blues should you not be able to afford the album yet.

For an unsigned band, their sound is epic and intense and this is yet another band that I don't see being unsigned for too much longer.

Here is a video for The Scar and there are live performances of Beautiful Girl and The Scar.