Best Band and Best Performance in Alternative Music: ReckonerReckoner have proven themselves to be one of the best newcomers back in the IMAs when they snatched two out of the three awards they have been nominated for namely the Best Newcomer and Best Live Act. Now Reckoner are back and they are better than ever, seriously. The band's complex style of music and continuous innovation of sound has gained them respect from legendary musicians like Regan Futrell, Jakey Comatose, the late Scott H. and many more. Their sophomore album Backstabber has been praised by critics and even charted in numerous regions gaining the band's 1st number one spot in the US, now all those who said the band were only one hit wonders with Invisible were put to shame. Reckoner also never disappoint when it comes to pleasing their fans since they deliver great performance after great performance even earning the 2nd place at the previous Delta Tau Battle of the Bands. Now they continue to prove their worth to be nominated as Best Band
Best Artwork
simple yet elegant..Best AlbumBackstabber is the second album by the British alternative rock band Reckoner, released on May 05, 2010 despite the talks that it would be released 5 days later on May 10. The album was produced and engineered by Ryan Ross Hernandez, Liam O'Mally, and Regan Futrell in the V-Records Studios from April 2-May 3 2010. The album marks a change in musical style of the band from its pop rock sound in Invisible to a variety of musical genres like psychedelic, post-grunge, and even metal. Even Troy Mascenon has expanded his lyrical themes with themes about gun violence, prostitution, phobias, and many more. The album's artwork was created by Dale Tucker, who directed all music videos from the band's debut album.
The album has also released two singles Slow Down and Falling Down, with the former peaking at # 28 in the UK Charts and the latter peaking at #2 making it the first single of the band to enter the Top 5. The band has stated that they are to release two more singles off the album in the coming weeks.[/b]
Tracklisting:
1.Planet Xerox
2.Backstabber
3.Slow Down
4.Falling Down
5.Blur(Mascenon/Anderson)
6.Lock N' Load(Anderson/Morrisson)
7.Grudge(Mascenon/Anderson)
8.Brittlebone
9.Daydream(Mascenon/Carter/Anderson/Morrisson/Fuller)
10.Blackout
*All songs written by Troy Mascenon except where notedBest SingleBlackout is the fourth single released by
Reckoner from their second studio album Backstabber, this single also marks the end of the so-called
Backstabber era of the band and they are off to touring for a few months before going back to work on their next album. The song is said to have been the darkest song ever written by the band. It features the first ever use of orchestral accompaniment by the band, soft melodic arpeggios in the key of B, and vocal tracks sung by all members of the band. The single also contains the B-Side Morning Show, considered by the band as the best B-side they have ever written.
Tracklisting:
1.Blackout(Mascenon)-written in the darkest hour of his life, the song was considered by songwriter Troy himself as the saddest and darkest song he has ever written. "It was written at the time when I critically overdosed on Cocaine a few years back, I was going through depression and I wasted all my money on the drugs, it was the only thing that comforted me during those times, I wasn't thinking. One night I got so hooked on it that I used so much and next thing I remember was seeing the light, I woke up 3 days later in the hospital and everyone close to me was there, it was the worst experience I have ever known and I don't wanna go through it ever again." says Troy. The song features the first orchestral accompaniment the band has ever used, it was said that JC wrote the orchestral parts. The song is built up on guitar arpeggios in the key of B, slow drums and a double bass accompanying the slow tempo of the song, and the band singing in a choir-like style during the outro of the song.
2.Morning Show(Mascenon)-the song was written originally to be a happy song but was later revised into a disturbing story teller. The song talks about a man obsessed with a TV Host he sees on the Morning Show everyday, he then stalks the woman by writing an I Love You sign at her car's tinted window, sending chocolates and flowers to her, and finally breaking into her house, the song ends with a chase inside her home and finally the cops arrive after a neighbor calls 911, the stalker attempts to stab the TV Host but he is then shot by the cops and the TV Host was sent to therapy. The song is built up by a sexy guitar riff, distorted drums and bass, flanging, and Troy's soft voice.
Best Live Artist
Reckoner Live at Teignmouth, Devon: Man, I miss this place so much! It’s been, like, ages since I last slept here!
Troy: Yeah, it sure does feel good to finally come home...
JC: Yeah, now back to business, what songs should we play?
JPC: Why don’t we play our new songs?
Tristan: I agree with JPC, play the new songs to give the fans the something well, new!
Troy: Well you guys have a point, playing the same songs over and over might seem pretty boring, who votes on playing new material?
All five members of the band raise their hands, agreeing on playing the new material for the free concert. They plugged in their instruments and had a simple soundcheck before practicing the new songs.
10 minutes before the gig…Reckoner arrive backstage with their tour bus, immediately handing out their instruments to the stage crew, who only needed the band’s instruments to complete the stage. Now it has finally come, the show has just started and the spotlights roam around the venue as excited fans cheer energetically for their hometown heroes. Reckoner gently walk out of the backstage and into the view of the audience, they are met with a great applause as they go into their respective positions. All instruments have been tuned by the band and plugged in by the stage crew so they didn’t have to worry anymore about tuning onr plugging their instruments, they just needed to play..
Troy: Good evening Teignmouth!
(Audience cheers loudly)Carl: It’s good to be home!
Troy: Well today is gonna be the epic finale of one of the greatest battles in the history of music. Today is the finals of the Delta Tau Battle of the Bands and we are going up against two of the greatest metal bands ever; the legendary
Blood of Wecz, and the future legends
Mind! If ever you are going up against two great live acts, you really have to put up a damn good show, am I right?
(Audience cheers even more loudly) So please give it up for my band, and Teignmouth’s own, Reckoner!
The audience cheer once more time as Troy is handed out his acoustic Martin guitar. The spotlight focuses on Troy and Troy only. Troy plays this chord progression which seemed so similar to the fans that they even applauded. The song was Slow Down without any other musical accompaniment but the guitar. The acoustic version is more intimate and emotional than the original because while Troy sings the chorus, everybody in the crowd is given a chance to sing along. One of the most beautiful things a musician can witness is when fans sing along to his music, it’s just like seeing your baby say his first word. Troy was nearly crying and had to let the people sing the chorus, he got so emotional with the song but he still had to play it to the end. The audience applauded as Troy gave his Martin guitar to the crew member, who in exchange gave him his famous Telecaster.
Troy: That was good everybody, you nearly made me cry! (Audience laughs) So this next song, you might have heard from our Blur EP, it’s a psychedelic trip to some weird shitty wonderland, its called
Daydream!
Daydream is a psychedelic song with dominant whammy pedals and JPC’s first song playing the slap bass technique. The song starts of with JC who plays the lead whammy, and Troy who plays a few notes on clean guitar. The whole band then comes in with Carl’s slightly distorted guitar, JPC’s slap bass, and Tristan’s snare and hi-hat combo. The green and yellow lights complement the psychedelic feel of the song. The song, as Troy explained is a psychedelic trip to wonderland with meaningless lyrics, groovy beats, and Carl\s crazy back up vocals which use this ghostly effect. The chorus is consisted of a different chord progression for Carl and even more complicated riffs from JC, the crowd seemed to like the song pretty much as they tried to sing along the catchy hook. After another verse and another chorus, the solo then comes in. The solo is played by JC’s whammy guitar as Carl plays the intro chord progression and Troy just played with his guitar’s delay. The song ends with another whammy riff by JC followed by a loud applause from the audience.Troy: Thank you, glad you liked that song!
Troy grabs his water bottle from the amplifier standing next to him and drinks from it, rehydrating his voice for the next song..
Troy: This next song is inspired by a band called Mind, JC and I wrote it right after the Chromosome 13 Tour and I guess you guys would like it; it’s called
Lock N Load...
The song’s intro is consisted continuous strumming of distorted power chords by Carl and Troy followed by JC’s tremolo picking and Tristan’s hi-hat, metronome like sound. The song then explodes with JC’s metal riff, Troy and Carl playing the power chords, JPC playing an extremely complex bassline, and Tristan playing heavily on his drums to the point where it looks like he wants to destroy his own drums. The flickering lights accompany the sound of the riff giving that metal feel to the song. The song’s lyrics are very brutal and talk about man’s abuse of guns and their addiction to violence, the lyrics are quite abstract though, but if thoroughly understood, you can see the sad message inside. The audience banged their heads to the riff, since almost everybody in the place listened to Mind, Blood of Wecz, and Black Gold Reign. The chorus is made up of a crescendo of instruments with Troy’s voice imitating the progression; the chorus ends with Troy singing in a high C5 note scream followed by the intro riff again. The song’s solo is consisted of Troy playing rhythm, JC playing the whammy and Carl playing the distorted guitar; these different riffs, when put together, form one new sounding riff which the fans moshed to. The song then slows down to the outro where Troy and JC’s distorted guitar have a duet, Troy sings the last few lines of the song, imitating the sound of the bluesy riff JC was currently playing.Troy: Thank you Teignmouth, you have been a very great audience! We would like to thank all of you who have supported the band throughout the whole competition. We hope to win this battle but I see really tough competition. Well good luck to Mind and Blood of Wecz, both really great live acts, I just want to say thank you for giving us a great challenge and we are glad to lose to you guys cause I know you deserve it! Well this next and final song is also found from our Blur EP. This is dedicated to all my friends who have stabbed me from behind when I wasn’t even aware, it’s called
Backstabber...
The song, as Troy described it, is about people who he though were friends but then betrayed him at the moment he needed them the most. The intro of the song is consisted of a distorted guitar progression played by all 3 guitarists, another slapped bassline by JPC which he would be playing for the whole song, and Tristan’s complex drumming. The verse is sung by Troy with only the bass and drums as accompaniment giving that groovy feel to the song. The chorus is played with the intro’s chord progression, only this time with lyrics and Carl's high pitched back up vocals. The second verse is played with the same arrangement of the first one but with muted guitar strums played by JC and Carl, it is followed by JC’s fill which leads to the chorus one more time. The chorus is followed by a bridge consisted of semi-spoken lyrics by Troy and the bass and drum combo by JPC and Tristan, it is followed by aggressively strummed chords leading to a solo played by JC and accompanied by Carl and Troy's famous "wall of noise". The song then leads to one final bridge and the chorus to end it all with Troy and Carl sharing vocal duties and JC playing randomly picked notes. The song ends to the loud applause of the crowd and as the band put down their instruments they all dive off the stage and into the arms of the audience who warmly accept them as they chant their name.. RECKONER! RECKONER!"It doesn't matter if we win or we lose, the most important thing we have done throughout the competition is give it all we got to the people, we know that we have made all of them happy and I think that's enough to say we are winners.."
-Troy MascenonEdited by user 06 July 2010 23:22:34(UTC)
| Reason: Not specified
