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Welcome back to another episode of All Access! It has been a bit but we are back with some new awesome stuff! You’ll hear a new voice on air this time and that’s because we welcome in Emily Jurrow to the team as our new producer/co-host. Each week you will hear some conversations between Trenton and Emily about various music topics before the interview with our guest, Lauren Kashan of Sharptooth. As stated, Lauren of Sharptooth joined me (Trenton) on a call recently after seeing them go from a small band to a hot act in the hardcore scene. Sharptooth have been making waves since signing with Pure Noise last year as well as releasing their debut “Clever Girl”. This band is very different from many as frontwoman Lauren Kashan confronts issues regarding feminism, gender, sexuality and many more in her lyrics. During this conversation, we discuss the band’s origins, band name/album name (because dinosaurs), and the serious topics she is speaking about. While the talk is intense and serious, the atmosphere is light with laughter and relaxed talk making it a great listen. After you listen, be sure to go support Sharptooth and pick up a copy of “Clever Girl”.

So what is it like trying to make it on a singing competition with the whole country watching? How about working with one very experienced and known star? This is what the show The Voice is and how it sucks people in. Blind auditions in front of coaches who will turn a chair around if they like you or stay turned away if they don’t. This week we have WILKES on the show who is currently competing. WILKES was also a member of the rock bands Disciple and High Flight Society in which we discuss how being on that side prior has helped. The cool thing with artists like WILKES is that they can have a shot after already having a career in the past which other shows don’t allow. We also discuss working with his coach Blake Shelton and how much time they get one on one with these coaches to prepare. It will also shock you who his favorite band is!

Michael Labelle of A Skylit Drive and of the current project Horcrux joins Trenton this week on All-Access. We discuss his journey into getting into A Skylit Drive via his old band In Reverie. From that, Michael Labelle touches on a possible future with A Skylit Drive should the opportunity arise. Horcrux is the current project for Michael Labelle which released an EP just this year. We discuss this band the transition from playing guitar to being a frontman along with future plans and music for Horcrux. One of the last but not least things discussed are the importance of Spotify playlists and how to grow your numbers. Michael Labelle tells us how it’s helped Horcrux in such a short amount of time. ‘Like’ Horcrux on Facebook HERE or @HorcruxOttawa

Kevin Max joins Trenton on this episode which comes to be from a shot in the dark. After a curious email was sent, we found that he was down to chat with Trenton on the phone and it certainly did not let us down. Many know Kevin for his work in the ground-breaking band DC Talk who’s hit ‘Jesus Freak’ sent them into mainstream play including on MTV. So where did that all begin? That is where we start off as we get to go on a journey from the early years of the band forming at Liberty University, the Christian industry, and Kevin Max’s forthcoming solo record, ‘AWOL’, which is being crowdfunded on pledge music. Something else we get into as well about the new record is that though he retains his Christian faith, he is not a ‘Christian artist’. This is interesting to hear due to how well he was known for DC Talk and a stint in Audio Adrenaline but is something that can hurt an artist with having that label on them. If you want to check out the new record campaign, click HERE to support it. The record features some star-studded contributors playing on it including members from The Smiths, Passenger, and more!  

From starting with the classic post-hardcore act Chiodos, Craig Owens has solidified his name amongst the top tier singers in the scene. Going into other projects such as D.R.U.G.S (Destroy Rebuild Until God Shows), Isles & Glaciers, and more recently his solo endeavor called badXchannels. On top of a huge career having such success, we catch up with Craig Owens doing something else he’s been excelling in which is producing. On top of his project badxchannels, we caught up with Craig Owens in the studio as he was currently working on a record for The Amber Tide who are also based in Detroit. During this conversation, we cover various topics such as the balance between producing and creating for himself, pulling the reigns back to not put his own stuff into an artist’s work, his inspiration/influence for badxchannels, and something he doesn’t talk about much which is his spirituality. If you enjoyed this episode, please rate us 5 stars and subscribe/share!

As much as bands influence others and create their own sound, none of that would be possible without the ear and skills of a producer, whether within the band or elsewhere. This same idea applies to these producers who no matter the act is, their fingerprints can be heard on each record they do, sometimes creating a new direction for the artist that the artist didn’t intend to have done at the start. Very few names have become mainstays in the alternative scene who are responsible for some of the most known bands from early on to those still going today. Among those producers are Cameron Mizell out of Chango Studios. Cameron Mizell has had his staple on many releases by some chart-toppers such as Sleeping With Sirens, ‘Feel’, Memphis May Fire, basically everything, Woe Is Me, ‘Number[s]’, Slaves, ‘Routine Breathing’, and The Word Alive, ‘Real’, to name a few. Through all of these triumphants there was darkness at the time same time in Cameron Mizell’s life that has shaped him into who he is today. We had the privilege to have him on and talk to us about things he has been through, lessons learned, and what the future holds for him. The Morla Collective The new venture he has created which we are also a part of now as well is The Morla Collective. A non-profit that strives to provide an artist with everything they need from production, artwork, booking, management, etc all for free. This results in the artist keeping their profits vs having to pay off other people before pocketing anything. You can visit the site and get information HERE and connect via Facebook HERE.

Earlier this year, we were able to sit down with and talk to Tim Mctague. For those who don’t know, Tim has been a key member of Underoath for many years as the guitarist and has also been with his side project Carrollhood. Carrollhood released their self-titled EP this year which was a major talking point in this interview. Tim Mctague is a guru at time management as well and we learned a ton from him in this conversation. This was also before Underoath made their major announcement for ‘Erase Me’ being released April 6th and their signing to Fearless Records. While this conversation is amazing, the Underoath talking points are at a minimum. Underoath has also since announced the ‘No Fix’ tour starting up this Spring as well in support of the album. We didn’t get to chat about Carrollhood’s lyrics either. That’s noted because it is a very explicit EP in that regard and Underoath caught backlash from dropping the ‘f bomb’ on their new single.