Skate and Surf Festival is taking over Six Flags Great Adventure this weekend, and we simply couldn’t be more excited. So what better way to lead into the weekend of craziness than with our an official kick-off party featuring one of the festival’s hottest acts? That’s why we’re thrilled to invite you and all of your friends to join us Friday evening at Macy’s in Freehold, NJ for American Rag’s Skate & Surf Kick-Off Party featuring a FREE performance from T. Mills! Not only that, but the event will feature tons of fun stuff like our infamous photobooth alongside manicure and braid stations from our friends at Seventeen Magazine, free giveaways and SO much more. Fans who make a $25 purchase will even have the chance to meet T. Mills after the show.

Make your plans to join us now, then find us on the festival grounds all weekend long!

What: FREE Skate & Surf Kick-Off Party ft. T.Mills
When: Friday, May 17th, 6-9pm
Where: Macy’s Freehold, NJ (3710 US Highway 9 Freehold Township, NJ 07728)

Into It. Over It. is the moniker created by emo extraordinaire Evan Thomas Weiss. We adore the moniker alone, but it certainly doesn’t hurt that Weiss also makes some excellent tunes too.

If Into It. Over It. sounds familiar, you most likely recall the feature from Issue 17.

Since then, Weiss has been up to a lot: he will perform on Saturday, May 18, at Skate and Surf Festival, plus he is hard at work on on a forthcoming fall record (released via Triple Crown Records)!

Watch the video above, to catch a glimpse into Weiss’ recording process on the new album. Our bespectacled hero is seen mouthing lyrics and holding a guitar as electric fuzz blares and the words “new record coming this fall” appear.

Stay tuned for the next Into It. Over It.-related report!

Back in February, we announced some very exciting news: Skate and Surf Festival is back this spring after an eight-year absence!

Today, we have another update: the location of the festival has moved from Freehold, NJ to Jackson, NJ—more specifically, to Six Flags Great Adventure.

Though A Day To Remember is only headlining on Sunday, May 19, both this day and Saturday will be full of unforgettable fun, thanks to additional well-known showstoppers like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Andrew W.K. and Fall Out Boy. 

Buy your ticket here and make sure to say hi to us at Six Flags!

They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. This is perhaps what’s so compelling about a New Year’s resolution, which speaks to the deeply human belief that by committing to a shift in behavior, a person can change their life. Conventional wisdom says most folks fail the commitment part, so most of our lives stay the same. But what if you resolved to keep doing the exact same thing you’d been doing for years? And what if that’s precisely what changed your life? Crazier things have happened.

On New Year’s Day 2012, the five members of Walk Off the Earth gathered in vocalist Gianni Luminati’s kitchen to do the same thing they’d been doing for years: record a video of themselves covering a pop song in an unconventional manner. The idea: all five band members, playing a single guitar, at the same time; the song: a then-unknown (to North Americans) pop ballad by an equally unknown Australian singer named Gotye.

“Gianni had had the idea of multiple people on one guitar for a while,” says guitarist and co-vocalist Marshall, his already-raspy voice a bit even more so because of a mid- winter cold, discussing the year-old video from the band’s hometown of Burlington, Ontario, Canada. “We’d been doing that on our live show for years, where Joel [Cassady] will come over and play drums on my guitar, and so we thought: how many people can we put on one guitar?”

The whole band, it turns out, though it’d be cozy. At far left of the frame, Cassady taps his knuckles and fingertips on the soundboard and body; Sarah Blackwood looks most natural, her elbow crooked in a standard strumming position, keeping the barest of rhythms until it’s time for her take on Kimbra’s verse; snug in the center is Luminati, approximating the lead melody in the middle of the neck and belting out the chorus; beside him Marshall holds the baseline and handles verse vocals; at far right, keyboardist Mike Taylor, bearded and without affect or wasted energy, issues a series of harp-like flicks on the taut strings of the headstock. It’s brilliant, both in concept and execution—a dual visual metaphor of (A.) the seemingly disparate sound and rhythm components that, when played together, form a recognizable song, and (B.) the way five different people unite to form one band. It’s also funny, and flat-out amazing, that it’s captured in a single take (many of their videos are). And as Marshall explains, their timing made for “a perfect storm.”

In addition to our raucous day at Macy’s to kick off SXSW last week, we also were proud to present FILTER Magazine’s annual Showdown at Cedar Street for three full days of madness!

Each day opened with three international bands and free breakfast tacos (is there any other way to start a day in Texas?) before kicking into the main event. Highlights and buzzworthy acts to keep an ear out for included Haim, St. Lucia, San Cisco (also featured in the new issue of RAGGED!), Local Natives, Charli XCX and Willy Moon. Check out some scenes from the week here, and head to facebook.com/AmericanRag for the full gallery!

FULL LINEUP:

]]> 2013-03-21T16:54:29+00:00 http://raggedmag.com/index.php/news/entries/tour_dispatch_scenes_from_our_sxsw_in-store_at_macys_with_breathe_carolina_ http://raggedmag.com/index.php/news/entries/tour_dispatch_scenes_from_our_sxsw_in-store_at_macys_with_breathe_carolina_

To properly kick off our time in Austin, TX for SXSW, we hosted our very own FREE showcase at Macy’s, presented by Vans Warped Tour on Wednesday, March 13! The day started out with a rousing performance from Skinny Lister, who literally brought the music into the crowd, before MC Lars took to the stage for a dose of his “post-punk laptop rap.” After the first two sets, fans who made a $25 purchase were invited over to meet each of the bands and get some autographs, while we prepared the stage for the next two acts.

Following a quick break for the signing, Super Water Sympathy gave the crowd a welcome change of pace with their melodic set before Breathe Carolina ignited the party with a Harlem Shakedown complete with a green body suit (for Kyle) and hundreds of balloons. Needless to say, it RULED. Following the show, both bands again stayed to meet fans and sign some autographs.

We’d like to send our deepest thanks out to each of the bands, Vans Warped Tour, the crew at Macy’s Barton Creek in Austin, and of course all of the fans who came out to join the party! Head over to facebook.com/AmericanRag for a full gallery from the day (over 100 pics!) and stay tuned for details of our next tour stop!

As we make our way across on tour this year, we're going to be documenting all of our adventures, and as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so what better way to keep you in the loop than using Instagram? Follow us @raggedmag for all of our favorite moments and behind-the-scenes peaks, and that's not all. As we begin taking over Austin, TX this week for SXSW (details on all of our shows here!), we want to see YOUR best Austin moments recorded on Instagram! Not only do we want to see them, we want to reward them! Just use hashtag #MyAustinMoment and tag @raggedmag with your photos for a chance to win a $500 Macy's shopping spree!

Keep at it all week and stay tuned for winner announcements! We can't wait to see your adventures. Remember: #MyAustinMoment.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL OFFICIAL RULES.

Browse Entries: 

Within the pages of RAGGED, we prepped for SXSW by taking a tour of Austin with Boys Like Girls’ Paul DiGiovanni, went record shopping with the unstoppable Aussies in San Cisco, got to know up-and-comers Kitten, and sat down with Blondfire‘s Erica Driscoll. We also got the fashion scoop from our girl on the scene, Lenay Dunn, to get her packing advice for SXSW and much, much more.

Speaking of SXSW, don’t forget to visit us in Austin this week for the music festival where we’re hosting four days of fun (more info here), including a set on Saturday afternoon from San Cisco!

So without any further ado, we proudly present to you RAGGED Issue #20. Grab your free download now and let us know what you think!

FREE ISSUE DOWNLOAD HERE!

INSIDE RAGGED #20

SCENE
Events » VOODOO MUSIC + ARTS EXPERIENCE 2012
The Beat » ED SHEERAN Live at Stubb’s Bar-B-Q
Horoscope » Your Fashion Future Foretold
Fashion 4-Ward » 4 SXSW STAFFERS Layer Up in a Denim Jacket

HEARD
Here Comes the Sun: The World As Seen By BLONDFIRE
SAN CISCO: Imaginary Places
Play It Again » WATERLOO RECORDS 4 Behind-the-Counter Experts Pick Their Favorites

ON THE ROAD: SXSW
Lenay’s Picks » Your American Rag Looks For This Year’s SXSW
PAUL DiGIOVANNI’s Guide to Austin, TX (BONUS: Exclusive behind-the-scenes video here!)

WHAT’S NEXT
KITTEN: Electric Purr

COVERS
WALK OFF THE EARTH: Uncovered
YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE: Take Two

FREE ISSUE DOWNLOAD HERE!

Next week, we’ll be down in Austin for all of the SXSW craziness, but don’t think we’re not prepared! As we worked on the new issue of RAGGED (coming next week as well!), we met up with Paul DiGiovanni from Boys Like Girls to explore all of HIS favorite spots in the Live Music Capital of the World. Look forward to getting the full scoop next week in the pages of RAGGED, but for now enjoy some behind-the-scenes action with our girl, Lenay, as they hit up places like Stubb’s BBQ to prepare for SXSW.

PS. If you’ll be in Austin, don’t forget to RSVP for our FREE showcases at Macy’s and Cedar Street Courtyard next week!

American Rag On Tour: Adventures in Austin with Paul from Boys Like Girls & Lenay Dunn from Ragged Mag on Vimeo.

Join us Wednesday, March 13th at the Barton Creek Macy’s in Austin, TX for an incredible day, presented by our good friends at Vans Warped Tour, with performances from Breathe Carolina, Skinny Lister, MC Lars and Super Water Sympathy! The show is FREE and open to ALL AGES, so come one, come all! RSVP now and plan to arrive early and stay all day!

RSVP: filtermagazine.com/americanragsxsw