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DAY SHEET BLOG — Music

What #HAPPENS in Vegas.. 2022 Edition

What #HAPPENS in Vegas.. 2022 Edition

Last week, we had the honor and pleasure of attending the 2022 MEDIABASE #HAPPENS Radio Convention in Las Vegas, NV.

#HAPPENS is a rock and alternative curated new music experience. The event once again will bring together the best radio programmers, label and streaming executives, culture-tastemakers, artists and brands, inspiring new ideas in the ever-evolving music community. 

This was our eighth year in attendance, and one of their best events yet.. We spent the week networking and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the biggest names in radio, label reps, promoters, rockstars, master distillers, and several other DIRTBAGS. Rock n' roll was had by all.

#HAPPENS 2022 Dirtbag Clothing

Opening night brought us all together again for a welcome party at the Backstage Bar & Billiards / Fremont Country Club. It was so good to see all of those familiar faces in the same room again, after 2 years of no rock n' roll. We picked up right where we left off in #HAPPENS 2020.. our last hoorah before COVID, and our first hoorah after it. The showcase was opened by Giovannie & the Hired Guns, and went on to feature Spirit of the Bear, Billy Howerdel (A Perfect Circle), and Our Lady Peace. Then some folks went straight to bed, and others overdid it on the first night like we always do :)... 

Billy Howerdel at #HAPPENS 2022

Breakfast was served at 10AM sharp, and the crowd sluggishly filled the seats of the convention hall. We got a sneak peak at new music videos from MESSER and Capital Theatre, and then listened to an engaging panel from Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace) and Elliott Wood (94.5 The Buzz) about NFTs and their emergence in the music industry. The next panel, headed by Alissa Pollack (iHeartMedia) discussed DATA, and the ever-changing, ever-confusing metrics that go along with radio and streaming. We then boarded the tour bus and rolled over to Rockstar Bar for a Metallica whiskey tasting party. The band couldn't make it, but we got to meet and chat with master distiller, Rob Dietrich, while drinking unlimited amounts of his delicious whiskey. We were then blessed in our earholes with live showcase performances by Kaleidoscope Kid, Almost Monday, Whole Damn Mess, and Dorothy. We boarded up the tour bus again and headed over to House of Blues at Mandalay Bay for a VIP lounge party, with performances by The Warning, Mammoth (Wolfgang Van Halen), and Dirty Honey. Again-- bed for some, and bad decisions for others.

Raine Maida (Our Lady Peace) #HAPPENS 2022Attendee Tour Bus #HAPPENS 2022

Metallica's BLACKENED Whiskey #HAPPENS 2022THE WARNING performing live #HAPPENS 2022 House of Blues, Vegas

The next day, 10AM came way too quickly for most. Breakfast saved our lives again, while we enjoyed video previews and premieres from Deepfall, The Black Moods, Concord Music Group (Korn, Ghost, The Offspring, The Pretty Reckless), Fame on Fire, Epitaph Records (Falling in Reverse, Parkway Drive, The Interrupters), Yelawolf, Sumerian Records (Black Veil Brides, Nita Strauss), and Shinedown. Then The Black Moods played us a few acoustic jams while we all woke/sobered up. Jason Flom (Wrongful Conviction Podcast) led a panel on justice for wrongfully convicted people, and Danny Wimmer (Danny Wimmer Presents) led a panel on live performances, radio and revenue, and getting back face-to-face again for concerts and festivals. To close out the week, the tour bus brought us over to The Barbershop Cocktails and Cuts for a special event sponsored by Edgeout Records with performances by ASHBA, Bluphoria, and STRATEJACKET.

STRATEJACKET performs at #HAPPENS 2022

As usual, it was a hell of a week in Las Vegas, and we can't wait to go back. The best parts about this #HAPPENS event are seeing new bands break, chatting with all of the faces, and seeing the intersection of art and business clash in the most beautiful of ways. Vegas, we love you.

DIRTBAG Crew at #HAPPENS 2022

...to see all the pictures from the week, check out THIS LINK
 
 

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Dirtbag Endorsed Artists - Sinsation Vampiric Metal

Dirtbag Endorsed Artists - Sinsation Vampiric Metal

Dirtbag Endorsed Artists Sinsation
Sinsation are a vampiric metal band like no other. These gothic madmen met playing in different bands at the Zombie Prom in 2019 and rapidly came to realize that the dark spirits of the universe wanted them to work together. They quickly assembled a stellar lineup out of the creative primordial ooze of the local scene and crafted a sound that reflected the influence of their sonic heroes ranging from classics like Motorhead and Slayer to rock gods like Joan Jett by way of modern masters Avatar and Halestorm. This rapidly developed into a style that was wholly their own.
Managed by the one and only Jaxxrock, Sinsation quickly saw success, playing the legendary Viper Room in Hollywood and winning the Metal Meeting in Arizona. At the same time they started to release singles with videos, even through the madness of the coronavirus pandemic. This slew of successes lead to endorsements by Solar Guitars, Felton Guitars, InTune Guitar Picks War-Core Pick Ups, and Shroeder Cabs. It also earned them a deal with TerrorCrew Productions and Artillery Music Group AMG who seek to help the band grow through their next few steps towards vampiric ascension.
Now, the band is gearing up to film another pair of music videos to help their promote their upcoming EP. However, this is only just starting to lay the groundwork for a concept album to come. This is all happening as the band continue to get heavier and lean into crafting pulverizing and face melting good times. With big things on the horizon and a legion of triumphs in the rearview mirror, none will be able to slow the mighty Sinsation. All that’s left to do is join their undead horde and watch as these thrashers take on the globe!
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Dirtbag Block of Rock [1967]

Dirtbag Block of Rock [1967]

Portland-based four piece hard-rock band, 1967, runs on blood pumping energy—it’s all denim jackets, tattoos, and the aches of bumping up against people in a thrashing crowd. Their performance strips away excess and maximizes the mantra of living life on life’s terms. For fans of the Foo Fighters, Nirvana, Pennywise, and Breaking Benjamin, there’s a new band to blast in your Camaro. That is, as you’re leaving your boring life behind and driving to an incredible view.

1967 is the brainchild of Jaime Reynolds, who leads on guitar and vocals. Today, the band includes a blend of southwest and pacific northwest-based musicians. The result is a massive sound unashamed in its mission—to release the tension of life with the spirit of rock, in all its hooky glory. 1967 tours the northwest and southwest regularly, offering polished and memorable live performances.

Listen to 1967 anywhere music streams online or purchase merchandise by emailing jkrprozack@gmail.com with your personal request of custom made 1967 merchandise.

Their latest 5-song EP produced by 40 million record selling producer, John Kurzweg (Creed, Puddle of Mudd, Godsmack) will be out soon. Stay tuned…

1967 Website and Socials

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Dirtbag Block of Rock [Zacky Sickness]

 Description:

"The Struggles of an Unknown Musician" is the third album by 'Zacky Sickness' and is his second album to have all instrumentals and mixing and mastering done by Jacob Lizotte. "The Struggles of an Unknown Musician" is Zacky Sickness' first concept album. The album is the story of the journey of a musician who is trying to make it in the music industry, and the highs and lows that most musicians go through. It tells how the main character gets sucked into the lifestyle of drugs and alcohol, and then has to eventually move back in with his parents. He soon finds that he can't come to grips with the reality that he will just work a normal day job forever and ends up taking his own life. Many of the situations in the story are based off of situations that Zack has gone through and has thought in the past. Zack Started working on the album only 3 months after his previous album "Stonebreaker" was released in March 2020, and finished this album 9 months later.

Influences for the Album:

Killswitch Engage, Metallica, Nirvana, Cheap Trick, Coheed and Cambria, Linkin Park, Architects

Track Suggestions:
Tear Them Down
A Glimpse in an Endless Sea
Cycle of Misery
The Beast I Am
Just Another Broken Dream

Bio:

Zack Settergren (A.K.A. Zacky Sickness) started his musical journey in 2010 at the age of 17 after being inspired to be a frontman after going to his first real heavy metal music festival. Zack started to practice his singing along to the video Game "Rock Band," until he decided to start his first band with his friends Tommy Hill, Casey Marino, and Collie Davidson. Together they formed a Pop Punk cover band named 'My Friend Z,' who covered songs by 'Green Day,' 'Blink-182,' 'The Ramones' and 'All Time Low.' They only played two shows and was a band for only a year, but those two shows inspired Zack to take music seriously, and to follow it as a dream.

In September 2011 Zack moved to Eugene to go to College. A few weeks before he moved there he posted an ad on the Eugene Music Craigslist looking for a band. A day or two later he got a e-mail from a man named Jered Kappenman. Five days after Zack moved down to Eugene he had his first practice with Jered and their first bassist, James John, and they formed the band 'Black Hare.' Black Hare toured all over the West Coast of America for 6 years with many different line-ups, leaving Zack and Jered the only original members of the band. Black Hare gained popularity in their hometown of Eugene, along with getting to open for international touring artists such as: Alien Ant Farm, HED P.E. and Powerman 5,000 at the world famous "Whisky a Go-Go" in Hollywood, California. They also got to be an opening act for international touring artist 'Dope' at the Hawthorne Theatre in Portland, Oregon. Black Hare released 2 albums and 2 E.P's within their six years of being a band.

Unfortunately, financial problems fell on Zack and he had to leave Black Hare and move back to his hometown. A small town of 2,000 people called Joseph, Oregon. Zack was hoping to start a band when he got back to Joseph, but soon realized there was no metal bands or metal musicians in Joseph. Zack found himself as one of the very few metal-heads in his county. Zack soon started to do recording projects on his own, creating instrumentals on "Apple Loops," and recording vocals over them. 9 of those songs were on the first 'Zacky Sickness' album: "Songs From the Black Sheep." Towards the end of recording the album he decided he wanted a really heavy hitting metal song. He went on to YouTube and looked up "Royalty Free Metal Instrumentals." Where he came along Jacob Lizotte's channel, and listened to a few songs and really enjoyed them. Zack asked Jacob if he would make him a custom instrumental track. The track Jacob gave him Zack thought was genius, and Zack wrote lyrics and recorded the vocals to what would become his song "I Give Up." Zack enjoyed the song so much he had Jacob make another real heavy song for the album that turned into "The Nightmare Called Life." After that album dropped Zack decided he'd have Jacob make all of his instrumentals, and together they released the album "Stonebreaker," released on March 27, 2020.

Zack told himself that he was going to take a good amount of time off from writing songs after the release of "Stonebreaker," but was persuaded to start writing again when he saw a interview with Ozzy Osbourne where he said "If you're on a roll with writing you got to keep going." Zack felt that he was on a roll, writing the best material he's ever written. So he quickly got back to having Jacob cook up some instrumentals. Zack felt it was time to challenge himself and to try to write a concept album. Zack came up with the idea of telling the story of a musician trying to make the "Big Time." He was hoping to show all the hard times along with the good times that come along with it, he hopes to show the world how dedicated some musicians are to making it. "Some musicians are so tunnel vision about making it, they can't come to reality with the fact they got to work a normal boring job and be a average Joe, and I wanted to put that out there" Zack said.  So 9 months later Zack and Jacob finished "The Struggles of an Unknown Musician" and released it on New Years Day.

Band Line-Up:
Zack "Sickness" Settergren- Lead Vocals
Jacob Lizotte- All instrumentals and Production

 

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