Press release and photos provided by Stunt Company

After spending much of the last year putting the finishing touches on her now world-renowned “In Your Arms” music video (made with more than a quarter-million Jelly Belly Jelly Beans) and touring in Europe, Asia and Australia, Los Angeles-based singer songwriter returns home for her most ambitious North American tour yet. Following in the success of 2011′s World In Front Of Me Tours, which saw more than 2 dozen sellouts around the world, Kina’s In Your Arms World Tour has already sold out a dozen rooms in Europe before venturing into two legs of mostly sold out dates in Southeast Asia and Australia.   The tour’s US leg begins at San Diego’s Porter’s Pub on April 9th and wraps around the continent, making stops at Washington DC’s 9:30 Club and New York City’s Irving Plaza before ending with shows at San Francisco’s Fillmore and Los Angeles’ John Anson Ford Amphitheater.

Kina recently garnered international attention when her aforementioned music video for “In Your Arms” off debut album Stairwells, became a viral sensation.   Made over the course of 22-months with 288,000 jelly beans, “In Your Arms” earned Kina appearances on Ellen and Jimmy Kimmel Live, features in Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, on The Today Show and Good Morning America and an iTunes Free Video Of The Week among countless others.  The video was also added across all MTV platforms, VH1 (where Kina was January’s Posted Artist of the Month) and Nickelodeon.  Additionally, the track reached #1 on iTunes’ Singer-Songwriter Chart and Kina was on the cover of Pollstar this past December.

In addition to promoting Stairwells and “In Your Arms,” Kina recently launched Run Team Kina, an initiative that both informs, promotes and encourages a more active, healthier lifestyle and also raises money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, who has recently nominated her a finalist for Woman Of The Year.  Through the Run Team Kina site – www.runteamkina.com – fans can donate to LLS or enlist themselves as fundraisers and even follow alongside Kina’s marathon training with realtime updates and messages.

Be sure to catch Kina perform at Paradise Rock Club on April 27th!

Press Release Courtesy of Big Hassle Media

http://www.facebook.com/TheLumineers

Denver band, The Lumineers, have gained quick success with the release of their self-titled debut album on Dualtone. The band’s style of emotive, powerful songs has garnered comparisons to Arcade Fire, Edward Sharpe, and Mumford and Sons. The album was produced and mixed by Ryan Hadlock (Foo Fighters, Ra Ra Riot, Metric) at Bear Creek Studios, with additional mixing by Kevin Augunas (The Black Keys, Cold War Kids, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros) at Fairfax Recordings.

http://www.facebook.com/TheLumineers

The band will be supporting the album’s release by making their first national network television appearance this Wednesday, April 4, performing on CBS’ The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Not only that, but the album’s first single, the foot-stomping sing-along “Ho Hey,” had the particular distinction of being an iTunes Indie Spotlight Free Download of the Week.

The band is in the middle of their US tour, following recent sold out shows in Seattle, Portland, two nights in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Santa Cruz. Many of the tour’s remaining dates have already sold out, including Minneapolis, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Denver, Washington DC, and Brooklyn. The band even had to upgrade their Seattle show to a larger venue due to demand, and still ended up selling out the extra tickets in a matter of hours. Due to such high demand, the band has also just added an extra date in Denver.

http://www.facebook.com/TheLumineers

The band’s shows at SXSW gained them a number of new fans and earned them rave reviews, including Jon Pareles at the New York Times, Greg Kot at the Chicago Tribune, and Todd Martens at LA Times. The LA Times noted of the band’s music, “This is roots rock delivered with Arcade Fire-like grandeur…It’s showmanship, sure, as Lumineers’ songs are packed with crowd singalongs and call-and-response vocals, but it’s also irresistibly fun.” The Chicago Tribune hailed the band’s “folk-rock bravado.”

The band also recently released their music video for first single “Ho Hey” in a coordinated effort across CMT Pure, CMT.com, MTV.com, VH1.com and mtvU. The video was directed by Ben Fee (Crystal Antlers, Spirit Animal). Watch the video here.

VH1 recently named the band one of their 6 bands under the radar to watch for 2012.

http://www.facebook.com/TheLumineers

The Lumineers were formed by Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites in New York. Their story begins in 2002, the year Jeremiah’s brother and Wesley’s long-time best friend, Josh, died from a drug overdose at 19. Amidst the loss and grief, Wes and Jeremiah came together and found solace in music, writing songs and playing gigs around New York. After battling the city’s cutthroat music scene and impossibly high cost of living, the two decided to expand their horizons. They packed everything they owned and headed for Denver, Colorado, where they met cellist Neyla Pakarek. And so The Lumineers sound took shape; an amalgam of heart-swelling stomp-and-clap acoustic rock, classic pop, and front-porch folk.

Lumineers Tour Dates
Wed-Apr-04 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
Thu-Apr-05 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The State Room
Fri-Apr-06 – Bellvue, CO @ Misawaka Indoors
Mon-Apr-09 – Ames, IA @ The Maintenance Shop
Wed-Apr-11 – Minneapolis, MN @ 7th Street Entry [SOLD OUT]
Thu-Apr-12 – Madison, WI @ The Frequency
Fri-Apr-13 – Chicago/Evanston, IL @ SPACE [SOLD OUT]
Tue-Apr-17 – Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Lounge
Wed-Apr-18 – Northampton, MA @ Iron Horse
Thu-Apr-19 – Fairfield, CT @ StageOne
Fri-Apr-20 – Berklee, MA @ Café 939 [SOLD OUT]
Sat-Apr-21 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg [SOLD OUT]
Sun-Apr-22 – Vienna, VA @ Jammin’ Java [SOLD OUT]
Tue-Apr-24 – Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brendas [SOLD OUT]
Thu-Apr-26 – Chapel Hill, NC @ Local 506
Fri-Apr-27 – Nashville, TN @ The Basement
Sat-Apr-28 – St. Louis, MO @ Blueberry Hill
Sun-Apr-29 – Kansas City, MO @ The Riot Room
Fri-May-11 – Denver, CO @ The Bluebird Theatre [SOLD OUT]
Sat-May-12 – Denver, CO @ The Bluebird Theatre [JUST ADDED!]

Purchase The Lumineers’ new album here.

Photo by Shervin Lainez

Press release and photos provided by Music Box Media

Ron Pope, one of the most extraordinary internet-driven music success stories of recent years, preps for the debut of his upcoming album Atlanta and announces the first leg of US tour dates (to be released exclusively on iTunes on April 17, with street date June 12).

Bringing a sound that is rich in Americana and country influences but also informed by Pope’s love of a wide range of artists from Clapton to Arcade Fire, Atlanta will bring an even wider audience to an artist who already has millions of sales and page views to his name.

Photo by Blair Clark

Pope’s 2006 track ‘A Drop In The Ocean’ became an online phenomenon, helped by a fan’s homemade video that now has an incredible 16 million plus views, leading to download sales of more than one million. The track was featured on the TV series ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and ‘90210.’ Pope’s music has also had repeated exposure on ‘So You Think You Can Dance.’

Pope just concluded his sold-out, four date European debut in support of Atlanta. After another brief European tour (including stops in Norway, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and the UK) Pope will return to the US at the end of May to tour the remainder of the country through the end of July.

Ron Pope – Atlanta (Music Video)

US TOUR DATES:

With special guests: Josiah Leming & Jesse Ruben

DATE                                  VENUE                               LOCATION

Thurs, April 19                    The Middle East                   Cambridge, MA
Fri, April 20                        Dominion                               New York, NY
Sat, April 21                         Stanhope House                   Stanhope, NJ
Sun, April 22                       World Café Live                    Philadelphia, PA
Tues, April 24                     Jammin’ Java                         Vienna, VA
Wed, April 25                      Local 506                               Chapel Hill, NC
Thurs, April 26                   Evening Muse                        Charlotte, NC
Sat, April 28                        Vinyl                                       Atlanta, GA
Mon, April 30                     Third and Lindsley               Nashville, TN
Wed, May 2                         Galaxy CDs                            Hamilton, OH
Thurs, May 3                       Peabody’s                              Cleveland, OH
Fri, May 4                            The Auricle                           Canton, OH
Sat, May 5                            Garfield Artworks               Pittsburgh, PA

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Photo by Tanya Ghosh

Jean-Pierre Didier Bouvet of Lakeville, MN  is definitely someone to keep an eye out for. JP, as most people call him, won the Guitar Center Drum Off in January, beating over 4,500 contestants for the number one spot. He is currently taking some time off from Berklee to ride the publicity wave of his big win, and while he may not be studying for finals this semester, JP certainly is not slacking off. Future plans include building his website, setting up clinics, and going on tour with Berklee band Helicopria.

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EL: Tell us a bit about your background, how did you get started in music?

JP: My mom has always been the music director in church. She plays piano and sings very well, so music was always around. I’m not sure what sparked my fascination with drums honestly, but I used to play on pots and pans with chopsticks when I was a kid, and then it got to the point where I started to break them. I took (lessons) with the same teacher for seven years and I learned a lot from him and he’s still an inspiring person today. He was such a fantastic mentor. We worked on everything, from every genre, and I think that’s where my appreciation for everything music kind of comes from. I joined my first rock band with Mike Linden in the 6^th grade, and he’s my roommate today actually. We still play in a band together called the Super Pilots that we started here at Berklee.

EL: Congratulations on winning the Guitar Center Drum Off. How did you prepare for the challenge and keep your focus throughout?

JP: Well I’m a huge advocate of preparation. Because I’ve done it like five or six years now on and off throughout my life … I didn’t think much about it … and then luckily without thinking about it too much I got through to that first round. Then … it sort of dawned on me that “there’s no reason why I can’t win this,” like I actually believed that it was possible. There was a moment where I was like “oh, I should give this my all this year ‘cause this could be it.” From that point on I was just obsessed. And pretty much every day, all day, whenever I wasn’t doing school work or practicing with the band, I was in the practice room, thinking about what I was gonna play. Everyone kind of does the same thing for the competition usually … and I wanted to bring some interesting things to the table. And a lot of the stuff I’d kind of been working on anyway, just challenging myself, so it was cool to be able to put them to use somewhere.

EL: What motivates you?

JP: The second that I believed that I could I just gave it my all. It’s (the Drum Off) often times a life-changing event for the winners. It gives you a jumpstart almost 2 years, and the publicity is huge. I mean besides being a cool experience and a fun challenge and an opportunity to sort of prove yourself among this ridiculous drumming community, it’s just … this is what I want to do for a living, and this has been an opportunity to sort of give myself a head start. That was really the main reason, because I know a lot of the guys who have won in the past, and they attribute the biggest turning point in their lives to being the Drum Off.

EL: How do you think it has changed your life so far?

JP: Well it’s really hard to tell because it’s really just beginning at this point. Some winners have gotten calls from people to go on tour, but it’s really what you make of the publicity, because as far as being … your own business as a drummer, the only ingredient is that you’re good at drums and that people know who you are. So you can work on the drums all you want but the hardest part is just getting people to know you exist. This is just a huge step in that way. If someone calls to go on tour that’s cool, but those things are very time limited: a tour ends. So that would be cool but that’s not my ultimate goal, it’s just to keep building my brand. And I basically have a year because next year they’ll have another winner and I’m basically out of the spotlight.

EL: What is your number one priority at the moment?

JP: I don’t think there’s just one single thing because I’m trying to keep several things moving at the same pace. There’s me and there’s me in Helicopria. I’m trying to push them both and use all the connections and all the publicity that I’ve been able to gather but keep them separate. And my goal for myself personally is to set up as many clinics as possible for this year and just meet as many people as possible, start to gather a real face-to-face following with people. I just really enjoy when someone says “Hey, that was inspiring.” I just put my new website up, gonna be building that up for the next year … and I started this blog … just keep in people’s eyes and ears and keep building the brand.

EL: So what are you up to now? Are you in school?

JP: I am in Boston; I just got back here yesterday, because I was in Nashville for a couple of days. I’m here for at least a year, and I did take the semester off. My return date is undetermined at this point, but Berklee is very special to me. I’ll always be connected to it but I’m not sure as to my future at the school. In time, maybe in a year or so, I’d like to move to L.A., because being there for most of January … it was really enlightening. It just has become obvious that that it the center of the universe.

EL: Where do you hope to be in five years?

JP: That I have stayed on the map, because a lot of drum off winners remain present and some sort of fall out of the public eye. I want be sort of a clinician pro, simply because I like sharing. I want people to call me for clinics and drum festivals, and then I want my website to be a happening place. I wanna keep doing the blog, I love doing the blog. I would like to by that time have worked with some big artists. And mainly just have a steady stream of exciting adventures to go on, whether it’s world tours, studio sessions, playing on video games … anything and everything. And I’m hoping that in five years Helicopria is touring the world and everyone loves us. That would be ideal.

Website: www.jpbouvetmusic.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/JP-Bouvet

As a performance major, it is important to be able to play in many different styles. This is something that Ben Adams understands and is taking to heart as he learns the unique rhythms and odd time signatures of Greek music. Beyond learning about Greek music, Ben is learning about Greek people! When asked what he would say to other students about the Study Abroad Program, Ben said, “Just do it! You won’t regret coming to Greece. Nakas, and Athens in general, is definitely a place where it is easy to cultivate fruitful musical and personal ideas.”

So far, do you think that studying abroad has helped you as a musician in any way?
Totally! I really feel enlightened in many aspects of my view of music. The rhythmic and melodic constructs in Greek music are super different than anything I’ve studied before and taking it all in is exciting and overwhelming at the same time. I’m not sure how it will affect my musicianship but it can only be good and I am stoked to see what happens!

As an observer, what changes have you seen in your fellow students?
We, as a unit, have been experimenting and playing with odd meters (something that is very prevalent in what we have learned so far about Greek traditional music) and trying to fuse them with our knowledge to create something new. It has yielded some pretty interesting stuff. I think we’ve all noted the Greek notion of “taking it easy,” and I think we’ve kind of taken that and become more relaxed people.

Which class is your favorite?
My ensemble is my favorite. Playing with Greek students is awesome because we can connect in a way that sort of transcends just hanging out and exchanging cultural ideas. We get to hear and interact with how life affects them through playing music together. Also our Mediterranean percussion lab and Greek Civilization class are awesome!

April Bender, first place winner of "In The Groove." Photo by Larry Leone.

Article/Interview By: Lisa Occhino

Back in September, The Groove launched our first-ever song contest called “In The Groove.” With just a five-day submission period to coincide with our Welcome Back Party, we spread the word through our social media channels and received over 50 awesome song submissions from Berklee students. The competition was open to every genre of music, as long as it had a “groove.” Our staff meticulously listened through each submission and judged the songs on the music, lyrics, arrangement, and originality. The Top 3 winners were announced at the Welcome Back Party, where they were given various prizes and had their songs featured in the DJ’s set for all of the dozens of people at the party to hear.

*Please note: All MP3s below had to be compressed to under 2 MB in order to upload, so much of the sound quality has been lost. Feel free to click on the artists’ links to hear their songs in full quality and learn more about them.

In third place was John Johnson of the band Midnight Snack (also includes Mike Johnson – guitar, Zack Kardon – guitar, Peter Brownlee – bass, Brad Bahner – drums, Brian Phillips – trumpet, and Jillian Strauss – backup vocals). He submitted the band’s catchy tune, “Bring Me High.”

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Website • Facebook • Twitter • Bandcamp

The second place winner was first-semester student Hadley Kennary with her beautiful song, “Parachute.”

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Website • Facebook

The grand prize went to amazing singer/songwriter April Bender. Warning: The chorus of “Make Believe” will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day.

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Soundcloud • Facebook • iTunes

I sat down with our first place winner, April, to interview her about her music, her time at Berklee, and the huge obstacles she’s had to overcome in order to continue to sing.

Berklee Groove: What’s your semester, major, and principal instrument?
April Bender: I’m 7^th semester, a Professional Music major, and a voice principal.

BG: How did you get your start in music?
AB: I cried and cried and cried as a baby, and the only way my mom could get me to stop crying was by singing to me. Eventually the crying turned into singing – I was singing before I could speak, and I was writing songs before I could put sentences together.

BG: Who are your musical influences?
AB: I’ve always been more interested in what’s current. When I was little, I would listen to whatever was on the radio, but my mom and I would also listen to people like Patsy Cline together.

BG: Who are you listening to the most right now?
AB: Right now, I love Sara Bareilles. I really love girl pop, like Kelly Clarkson – I’ve been listening to her new album constantly. Then again, I also really love indie folk stuff like Mumford and Sons… and weird grungy bands like Jet.

BG: Do you put all of those different types of music together to create your own sound?
AB: My sound is almost a non-country version of Taylor Swift, in the sense that I write really snarky, sarcastic songs about guys who have done me wrong [laughs]… But musically, it comes out more like Kelly Clarkson – I really like big choruses. I also write more mellow stuff, like Sarah McLachlan singer-songwritery things.

BG: Your song, “Make Believe,” won first place in our “In The Groove” songwriting competition. How did that song come about?
AB: Usually I have one specific person in mind that I write a song about, or I’ll just make something up that’s completely fictional. But that song was based on two separate people in my life, and I sort of spliced them into one song. One of them was a girl I know who’s really good at getting guys to fall for her… and the other one was a guy who was falling for one of those girls… I sort of imagined those two people in my head together, and that’s how that song came out.

BG: What’s the most valuable thing you’ve gotten out of Berklee so far?
AB: I’ve definitely learned a lot of technical stuff. There are things I didn’t even know existed before I got to Berklee, and now I feel like I’ve grown a lot as a musician. But for me, it’s the students and my friends, and being around all of these amazing people all the time. My friends’ talents are seeping into me and vice versa, and we’re all influencing each other. I feel like with my songwriting and my singing, I’ve been able to perfect my own style more because I’ll take little pieces from other people, and figure out what works for me and what doesn’t. Being around my friends… makes me want to work harder. Everybody keeps each other on their toes, but everyone is also really supportive here… that’s been the best thing for me.

BG: What’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to overcome in your musical career so far?
AB: I have a stomach disease [called gastroparesis] that took 17 years to diagnose because nobody knew what was wrong. We finally found out that my stomach is partially paralyzed… It caused a lot of problems with my vocal cords. Throughout my four years in high school, I would wake up in the morning and not know whether I’d have a voice that day… It was all up in the air. Once I was diagnosed, I was able to start taking medicine, and my voice has been pretty much okay for the past four years… It was a long struggle though.

BG: What do you plan on doing after you graduate?
AB: My goal right now is to try and get a publishing deal. Yes, I want to be an artist too, but right now there are so many people starting by writing for other artists… I would love to be a staff writer and get other artists to cut my songs on their album. That’s kind of the priority right now – I’m writing with and for other artists.

Emily Luther on The Ellen Show. Photo provided by Emily Luther.

Article/Interview By: Alyssa McCord

If you don’t know who Emily Luther is yet, then you will soon. Emily Luther, from Woonsocket, RI, is a 19-year-old third semester Music Therapy student here at Berklee College of Music – but she won’t be here for long.

Emily and fellow Berklee student/YouTube star, Charlie Puth, recently scored a recording contract with Ellen DeGeneres’ label, eleveneleven, and Interscope Records after their video covering Adele’s “Someone Like You” went viral. The video broke one million views within one week and was featured on Perez Hilton’s website for winning first place in his cover contest. After Emily and Charlie performed the duet on The Ellen Show, the video continued to climb to well over three million views and doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Although it’s been several weeks since the video was first posted on YouTube, you can count on the hype about Emily’s outstanding talent to only continue to grow from here.

Did you ever expect your entire life to change just from one YouTube video or to score a record deal while being a student at Berklee?
I never thought this would happen, not while I was a student either! I always hoped for the best but I didn’t come into anything with expectations.

What was your experience like performing on the Ellen show?
It was surreal. I guess it didn’t really hit me while I was out there until we were at the hotel after it all finished and my parents and sister-in-law and I were thinking, “What just happened?”

Tell me about your experience being offered a record deal by Ellen’s label, eleveneleven, and Interscope Records.
We were in the dress rehearsal on the day of our performance on the Ellen Show and there was an entourage of people in the audience. Ellen watched all three run-throughs of the song and she doesn’t usually watch the dress rehearsals at all. Before we sang through the song for the third time, Charlie looked at me and said, “I think that’s Akon in the audience” and it was! After finishing the third run through, about an hour before we went on to perform, they brought Charlie and I into Ellen’s dressing room, for a “pow-wow” as Ellen called it, and we were offered the deal with eleveneleven and Interscope Records!

So you and Charlie Puth will be working together for the record deal… How has it been working with him?
Charlie is great. He’s an extremely talented person. He created the track and engineered it and everything for the cover of “Someone Like You” by Adele. We’re also doing “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum as the second video! Charlie and I just work so well together. When we’re in the studio, we get things done in an hour because we just work so well together. He’ll say “Hey, do this at this part!” and then I’ll say “Sure! Hey, you do this at this part!” and we just get things done quickly. We mesh well together as artists.

How long have you been performing? Have you always dreamed of being a performer?
My first show when I was 9 as a mouse in Cinderella. I loved it and I fell in love with performing! My first professional theatre production was when I was 11 and then I just started doing it more and more and more and things just took off. I know it sounds cliché, but there was never really a question – it just always felt right. I never sat somewhere and thought, “I’d rather be this or a teacher or something.” It was never an option for me.

So you started out in musical theatre – do you ever want to get back into that or do you solely want to be a recording artist?
I think I’ve always wanted to do everything, it was just a matter of what order I wanted to do it all in. I would love to be on Broadway, which was my dream when I was a kid, but it’s all relative. I want to start with this but I want to eventually branch out. I want to do everything.

Do you think Berklee played a role in getting you to this huge step in your career?
Absolutely. The connections you make at Berklee are amazing. To be thrown into a school where there is a TON of talented people, it just makes you work that much harder. Before all of this happened a few weeks ago, I was working really hard everyday on improving my voice and gigging with Colin Jaros’ amazing GB Band, “Groovin’ You.”

What will the next steps be as you start getting involved with your record deal?
Right now they’re working through the logistics of when I move out there and get started with everything. The biggest step at the moment is getting really good people around me to help me. There’s definitely more pressure to work harder on writing since I didn’t have a lot of writing experience before this happened, but I’ll be getting a lot more experience with it now and I’m really enjoying that.

You come from a really small town, Woonsocket, RI. What do you think it’ll be like relocating LA or New York?
I think it’s going to be a huge change, which is very scary. For any musician, this is what you dream of but now that it’s happening, there’s so much I have to get in order. It’s really just getting used to a new lifestyle and people you don’t really know recognizing you and some people being like, “Hey, I loved that run that you did at the end of that song!” Before, people didn’t notice that.

What are the five most important things that you think aspiring performers should know? Do you have any other advice for them?
1. Always remember to stay true to yourself and what you believe in.
2. Never ever let others tear your dreams apart.
3. Everyone’s going to have an opinion… I mean, haters gonna hate!
4. Surround yourself with really good people.
5. Don’t forget where you came from.
As for other advice… Just keep going. If you surround yourself with positivity and just keep going and work hard and make sacrifices, which I’ve done a lot of in my lifetime, it WILL pay off someday. Keep on keeping on.