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Ronnie Cruz and the Towering Tins Tell Us All

Interviewer: We are here with Ronnie Cruz, Kayla Kross and John Smithereens of Ronnie Cruz and the Towering Tins. Hey there, and thanks a lot for coming in for the interview today.


Ronnie Cruz: The pleasure's all ours, man. Thanks for having us.



Interviewer: Okay, so, essentially I'm going to have each of you tell me about the top four insane places you've played, places that stood out in your mind as outrageous.



Ronnie Cruz:(Laughs). Do we have to narrow it down to just four?



Interviewer: Well, I mean, in that ballpark if you can.



Ronnie Cruz: Okay, well, one of the craziest requests we got in 07' was when we were invited to play at a prison.



Interviewer: A jail?



Ronnie Cruz: Yeah- it was a going away concert for one of the inmates. We would have two hours to play. The concert in itself went by pretty smooth, but getting there and getting checked in was a different story.



Interviewer: Go on.



Ronnie Cruz: We had to get patted down by security guards, and the inmates had to keep seated while wearing their handcuffs. During one of our more rowdy songs some of them stood up and began hollering. The guards weren't too happy about it, but I couldn't really see why; they were just trying to have fun.



Interviewer: Did anyone start a fight?



Ronnie Cruz: One of the inmates had to be taken back to his cell and that caused a bit of a commotion. The prison was nice enough to serve us dinner, after, but it tasted terrible.



Interviewer: I think it's going to be hard for you to top that.



Kayla Kross: We had to play at a kid's birthday party one time.



Interviewer: But aren't you a metal band?



Kayla Kross: Exactly. I think the parents thought our name was for kids though, much to our embarrassment. It was too late, though, and we had to play anyway. We ended up trying to scale down our songs. We even played some random kid songs like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.



Interviewer: How did the kids react?



Kayla Kross: I don't think they liked it. This one baby kept crying. The weird part was the clown, though.



Interviewer: What happened?



Kayla Kross: He'd heard of us. The adults had a few beers, and he went crazy and got totally drunk. He began screaming like he was at a concert. One of the parents made him leave, and I'm not sure if he got paid or not.



Interviewer: You were right, you did top it. (Laughs). What else?



John Smithereens: This one time we had a free show for our fans at a used car dealership.



Interviewer: How did you manage that one?



John Smithereens: Kayla's dad knew someone who would let us use his business space. We didn't have the funds to get a good venue. It was a terrible show.



Interviewer: Why? You didn't get a free car?



John Smithereens: I was paranoid the whole time. People were sitting on the cars and putting their drinks on everything. I didn't want to have to end up paying for them!



Interviewer: What else happened?



John Smithereens: Our stage was this really flimsy wooden set. My drum-set almost caved in.



Interviewer: So Ronnie, now that you guys have this off your chests, tell me the craziest story you can thing of.



Ronnie Cruz: The craziest thing would have to be when we played at this one dude's house, and it was the creepiest place we had ever been in.



Interviewer: (Laughs). This is going to be good.



Ronnie Cruz: The man collected weird things. He had pickled snakes and animal bones everywhere. The worst thing was, he didn't even talk. He had someone talk for him. He'd whisper into his girlfriend's ear, and she'd tell us what he was saying. He never even made eye contact.



Interviewer: What was the weirdest thing he had, and how did it turn out?



Ronnie Cruz: He had a whole shelf with cow brains. Only three people came to the show and they sat awkwardly on his couch. His girlfriend offered us food, but I just couldn't take it.



Interviewer: Did he like the show?



Ronnie Cruz: He left right in the middle of it by leaving us a note on John's drum set. He said he was going to attend a funeral. We got out of there real fast.



Kayla Kross: I actually thought it was pretty cool.



John Smithereens: To each their own, I guess.



Interviewer: Thanks for coming on, guys. Our readers are gonna eat this up!



The Hottest Tracks This Year!

As far as music goes, well, people have been enjoying it for hundreds of years. There’s no question that if you were to walk up to a group of people on the street, each one of them would give you a different answer as to what their favorite type of music is. The top four songs of 2015, so far, feature a variety of different sounds and none of them belong within the same genre. It just goes to show that music has the ability to unite everyone regardless of what type of sound it has. The year’s most popular singles, songs that remain on the charts, include Taylor Swift’s ‘Bad Blood’, WALK THE MOON’S ‘Shut Up and Dance’, Selena Gomez’s ‘Good For You’, and Tove Lo’s ‘Talking Body’.

Going Viral

Music videos blew onto the scene in the 1980s, altering the way people received their music, with MTV at the forefront. Times have changed, however, and MTV is more geared to reality television and YouTube and Vevo are the new authority on music videos. Artists and rely heavier on these services for self-promotion than ever before. “Going viral” is the best bet for a song to catch steam and make its way to a larger audience. Not only does YouTube help promote buzz for new albums, it gives birth to new artists.

Taylor Swift Topping the Charts

Taylor Swift, who consistently tops the charts with every single she puts out, introduced the airwaves to her hit song, ’Bad Blood’, in May of 2015. Originally a solo on her album, 1989, Swift teamed up with Kendrick Lamar for the single version, adding a couple of rap verses to the song. The song has been a high topic of conversation due to the fact that its subject is about an undisclosed female singer. Many have speculated that it’s about fellow singer, Katy Perry, but Swift has neither confirmed nor denied that fact. Her only insight into the rumors is that it’s about a singer who had previously sabotaged one of her concert tours by what some call ‘poaching’ her stage workers. ‘Bad Blood’, the album version, first debuted on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 charts in November of 2014. It remained on the charts before peaking at number 78 for two weeks. When the remixed version of the song that featured Lamar debuted, it almost immediately jumped to the number one spot. The album version received mixed reviews when it was first played for music critics, and was mainly criticized due to the writing. However, the remixed version of the song has been met with mostly positive reviews because of Kendrick Lamar’s verses. Even the best chart toppers need a little help getting there, right?

- Bad Blood has sold 2,210,000 digital copies in the U.S.
- The music video was directed by Joseph Kahn and features Swift's group of friends.
- The video broke Vevo's 24-hour viewing record by accumulating 20.7 million views in its first day of release
The song ‘Shut Up and Dance’ was recorded by alternative rock band, Walk the Moon. It has become the band’s biggest single to date. It was released in September of 2014 and has concurrently reached number one on the Rock Airplay charts. The song was inspired by an experience frontman, Nicholas Petricca had when he was at a nightclub with his girlfriend. ‘Shut Up and Dance’ might have never made it to the album because it was almost never written. While becoming frustrated with the writing process, Petricca went to the nightclub and was inspired by his girlfriend asking him to dance, which immediately broke his writer’s block, basing the song solely on the night he had. The song has become an anthem for letting out your frustrations and having fun, having not a care in the world. - The music video has a 1980s club/movie style .
- It’s their most successful single from their sophomore album.
- The song peaked at number four on the Billboard charts
‘Good For You’ by Selena Gomez is her first single off her upcoming sophomore album ‘Revival’, out in October of 2015. Upon its release, the song quickly became Gomez’s highest debut on the charts, making it to number nine. Internationally, the song has shown good reception, reaching the top ten in several countries. The album version of the song features a rap verse while the music video does not. Critics have said of the song and Gomez’s vocals that she has clearly moved on from her Disney roots and is quickly leaving it all behind. - Good For You debuted at number one on the Digital Songs chart with first-week sales of 179,000 copies.
- The music video garnered over 17 million views on YouTube within a week of its release.
- The song has streamed 4.5 million times.
Newcomer Tove Lo, released her second single, ‘Talking Body’ in January of 2015. The song was written by Tove, along with a selection of co-writers. While very little is known about Tove Lo and where she’s headed in the music industry, her singles have charted at decent spots on the music charts and have been received as mostly positive. - The song peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
- It’s Tove Lo’s second top 20 hit.
- The song is labeled as synthpop with elements of indie and electropop
While we all enjoy different kinds of music, and many might not like or agree with the above listed songs, these songs are well liked by many by becoming contenders on the music charts. Remember to always support your favorite artists and keep on enjoying the music!