Rob Benedict and Louden Swain
Rob Benedict - Lead Vocals & Guitar
Michael Borja - Bass & Vocals
Billy Moran - Guitars & Vocals
Stephen Norton - Drums & Vocals
Prior to their newest album Sky Alive, Louden Swain’s 2012 album Eskimo had solidified their reign as indie darlings in the Los Angeles music scene. The release of Eskimo - the band’s 4th studio record - yielded a year marked by an American and European tour, and included instant classic shows in New York, London, Chicago and Berlin. While videos for the singles “Eskimo” and “Gamma Ray” posted impressive numbers on YouTube, the song “Worlds Collide” was featured in the CW series “Supernatural”. Indie Rock Café said about the album “With that kind of talent helping them out, it’s nearly impossible not to end up with some great tracks”.
The four friends and longtime bandmates had a lot to be excited about. Lead singer Rob Benedict, bass player Mike Borja and drummer Stephen
Norton started the band in 1997. Early on the music catered to the time - they were a Green Day-esque garage rock band. The new millennium added influences from Wilco and My Morning Jacket. But
their core purpose never changed—make music that you enjoy. With the addition of lead guitar player Billy Moran in 2005, they were finally able to not only make the music the wanted to, but with
a new layer of sound that matched the epic visions they were hearing in their head. Those epic visions manifested themselves in A Brand New Hurt (2007) and Eskimo.
But 2013 brought a new challenge that they would have to overcome. In October, lead singer Benedict (also an actor with an impressive resume
including “Waiting...”, “Kicking and Screaming”, “Supernatural”, and “Felicity” to name a few) unexpectedly suffered an ischemic stroke, caused by a tear in his carotid artery. This unlikely
occurrence put not only Rob’s future, but also the band’s, in question. But Rob started making a surprisingly quick recovery, fueled by practices with the band. At first he could play but had a
hard time enunciating lyrics, but they kept on. “It was the one thing I could do that felt good, and was good for me.” said Benedict. By January 2014, he was back to full health, much to the
amazement of the doctors. His “therapy” had produced 16 new Louden Swain songs that were ready to record.
The result is Sky Alive - Louden Swain’s 5th full length album – a 12 song symphony of pain and triumph. It is an album about not only surviving but also re-connecting with life. The band has never sounded so full and passionate. The album is the closest yet to capturing the energy and pulse of their live shows. As always, the lyrics have that biting wit, catchy choruses, and instantly memorable melodies which have become the Louden Swain signature. The band produced Sky Alive themselves, and the finishing touches were added by mixer Jon Kaplan (Parachute, Augustana, Gavin DeGraw) and mastering by Gavin Lurssen (Bruno Mars, Queens of the Stone Age, Sheryl Crow).
Their music is available on Itunes and Amazon.
Jason Manns and Band
As a singer/songwriter Jason has released his debut album in 2006 and not only plays in the US but has toured Europe multiple times. His original songs are placed in TV Shows in the US, one of those being theTV Hit-Series Supernatural.
As an actor he had leading roles in Indiefilms like "Cake" and character roles in films like "Rock Slyde". As a producer Jason has worked on various short
films.
Jason resides in Los Angeles.
He released his second album "Soul", which he describes like that: "I am really excited about this album, there are some definite experiments on there that I'm
curious to see how they go over. There are, of course,plenty of songs that sound like what most people would think of as "JasonManns songs" but there are a couple, maybe a few, that don't really
sound like that... and I really like them! It's not a crazy departure. It's not electronic, no vocal, dance music or anything, but there is one rock song on there that is pretty fun, and kinda
dark, and there's one with kind of an R&B influence... like I said, experimental!”
His next album "Move" was released in 2013 and is also a great success!
In December 2014, Jason released a Christmas Album with wonderful guest appearances of actors from Supernatural like Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, Misha Collins, Rob Benedict and Richard Speight jr.. The associated release party for this album was held at the King King in Hollywood and was live streamed on Stageit with over 5000 viewers. The proceeds went to Random Acts, a charity organization of Misha Collins.
His music is available on Itunes, Amazon and cdbaby.
The Mots Nouveaux with Amanda Wallace
As a professional pianist and songwriter, Aaron has toured the U.S. and Europe extensively, and his solo project has garnered considerable attention, including radio play on KCRW. L.A. Weekly wrote that Aaron's work brings "a new life to the ancient music-hall/pop piano-man tradition, with clear-headed songs of genuinely witty lyrical oomph and, most of all, a historically informed musical depth--all delivered with style, grace, wit and elan, of course." The artist has undertaken several successful East Coast, West Coast, and European tours, backed by tour press, including TV appearances on networks such as KCRA Sacramento and Park City TV, radio, and continuous online viral promotion. In addition to a steady stream of live and session piano work, Aaron performs as one half of the throwback pop duo, The Mots Nouveaux, alongside co-writer, vocalist, and actress Emma Fitzpatrick.
Hayden Lee
Hayden Lee is a Charlotte-based singer/songwriter whose edgy guitars and beguiling melodies create a sound different than any other alternative rock/pop artists currently out there. He has played at various venues in the Charlotte and Washington, D.C. areas over the last 8 years playing a mix of cover music and original songs both as a solo artist and with bands.
Starting in early high school watching his band, Bottom's Dream, play guitar and sing while he played drums, Hayden Lee began learning guitar and writing music. He
played acoustic at several college events and was in Stairwells, an all-male a capella singing group, which helped hone his confidence as a singer and a performer.
Hayden began playing with Teaser, a cover band in Washington D.C, after college, where they introduced many of their original works into the sets. After moving to the Charlotte, NC area, Hayden
began playing at several venues acoustically and continued to write music in pursuit of eventually releasing an album. In 2007 he teamed up with producer and guitarist, Ron B. Smoov, and drummer,
Clayton “ClayFunk” Turnage, to produce his debut album, “House of the Lonely Souls”. This album combines driving guitars and head-bopping beats with melodic harmonies and thought-provoking
lyrics. This mixture produces a sound that traverses the different music genres from alternative rock/pop to some funk and R&B.
Recently he has been to Germany with The Final Wish for a gig in November 2014 and he is playing in Charlotte, NC now and then.
You can buy his album “House of the Lonely Souls” and the new EP “Unplugged and Unaltered(ish)” on Itunes, Amazon and cdbaby.
Paul Carella
Paul is a Scottish singer/songwriter. Self taught, Paul learned his trade as a musician playing in the pubs and clubs of Glasgow before moving to London in 2009 to further his music career. Since then Paul has released a second studio album, which was followed by a 10 date tour in Nashville, Tennessee. That was followed by a UK tour in which Paul supported Alan Price (The Animals) and award winning L.A singer/songwriter Steve Carlson. Paul has also worked with Alabama 3 and The Steve Cradock Band. Over the last 4 years, Paul's music has been played on independent radio stations in the UK and the US.
Since a young age, Paul has shown a hunger for music. Finding his first idol at the age of 4 in Elvis Presley,
singing along and following Elvis, move for move in his parents living room. That hunger was stifled for many years by a crippling shyness, that Paul eventually broke through and became the
outgoing person he is today. Finding other influence in artists such as Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Bruce Springsteen and most recently Glen Hansard, Paul has matured into an artist of the people,
writing songs about day to day life, relationships, hardships, topics that the people can really relate to.
Paul signed with music management, Downtown Artists in 2013.
He’s playing shows in UK, Scotland and Germany since he joined The Final Wish and Hayden Lee at their gig in Germany in November 2014.
You can buy his album “Carella” and the new EP “Dead Town” on Itunes and Amazon.
Emad Alaeddin
Emad Alaeddin is a Jordanian international artist who kicked off his music career 10 years ago in Los Angeles, California and developed his craft of performing and songwriting.
While in Los Angeles, Emad was the first Arab to have been nominated for Best Male Vocals at the Los Angeles Music Awards in 2007. He's also a two-time award-winning songwriter on
songoftheyear.com for his songs "More Than You Know" in 2007 and "How Does It Feel?" in 2008.
In February 2010, a year after his move back to Jordan, Emad released his debut solo album "Centered". Shortly after, the music video to his first single "Sunshine" made its debut on MTV Arabia
and blew up the radio waves in Jordan.
Emad is the first independent artist to be part of the hip music television channel and became Jordan's first featured artist on Nokia's Ovi Music Store, where exposure to his album will reach
millions of subscribers.
In parallel to an award-winning artist, Emad is also active in social issues as he’s launched his "Bring Change" initiative which collects pocket change from his concert attendees to benefit
underfunded schools. His "Bring Change" Tour will kick off in Amman and will continue on to Dubai, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK in 2011.
Emad’s 2010 Centered Tour included sold-out venues in the United Kingdom, Germany, China, Syria, Bahrain, and the United States.
"The warm welcome I received from my international fans made me feel quite at home," recalls the international star, "I can’t wait to go back next year and promote "Bring Change" and help all
children and their future worldwide".
Emad has been featured on numerous top Jordanian magazines and has made radio performances on the top western stations as well as the arabic stations.