The Mess 2

I’m a rock chick. I have the tattoos, the dark side, and the psychedelic hair. Well, okay,  perhaps that’s a slight exaggeration. I have purple braids in my crimson dreads, two frighteningly mushy tattoos (you know the drill; spiders and love-hearts and roses and tears and stuff), and a brother who thinks I’m goth because I’m melancholic and moody.

I’m not what you’d call a typical rocker. I don’t enjoy live concerts, I never mosh in public, I don’t use black make-up, and I have never ripped new jeans just because. I like the sound of emo because it speaks to my soul, and I like soft, alternative, punk rock. The ones who know better than me spend hours discussing the essence of acoustic indie music (or lack thereof), but I just bop my head, bang air drums, and rock on to sweet air guitar. For me, ‘alternative’ isn’t a genre, a statement, or a lifestyle. It’s a generic description of the kind of songs I like.

I’m a huge fan of internet radio, and my favourite station is Alternative Addiction. I’ve discovered a lot of my favourite bands there. A few weeks ago, I bumped into April Showers by The Mess. So I did what I always do when I find a song I like – I hit Google. Turns out they’re not a new band – they’ve been around since 2009 and have three albums. I checked out their Facebook and Twitter pages before ending up on YouTube.

I love the way this band sounds. They remind me of the late 90s and early 2000s, which is my favourite musical era. Their music blends the standard guitar and drums with unusual instrumental flavours that are probably electronic. They also have that Canadian-Rocker sound that I like so much, so I was surprised that they come from California. I’ve listened to almost 30 of their songs, and I love almost all of them, which is saying a lot. Their songs range between irrepressibly catchy and hauntingly deep.

My only complaint is that a few of their songs are too literal and wordy for rock. I mean, I love poetry, and I can understand an artiste wanting their music to have substance, but some songs have so much scope that there’s barely a chorus to latch on to. Ideally, rock should be ridiculously quirky or cryptically intense, preferably both. Think Swallowed in the sea by ColdPlay, Inside Out by Eve 6, or Pinch me by Bare Naked Ladies. Fortunately (for The Mess), the musicality of songs  like I had you at goodbye keep me listening even when the lyrics sometimes tempt my mind to stray.

I love that this band seems so ‘normal’. Their photos, the messages on their social media pages, and even their marketting strategy portrays them seem as ordinary kids just trying to catch a dream. I love the simplicity in the April showers video. No crazy clothes, naked chicks, emo make-up, or over-the-top theatrics – just a group of very talented guys having a lot of fun. They have this geek-sheikh thing going, and everybody knows how much I love my nerds. The Mess seems personable, authentic, and human, the kind of guys I’d love to hang out with. They seem like genuinely nice guys, and I like genuinely nice guys.

The Mess 1

When I first found the band, I thought they were green, fresh on the scene, untouched by ‘hollywood’ and ‘fame’. But their sound was very refined. They didn’t sound like the amateur garage band they appear to be. Their Facebook page describes their music as ‘a blend of electronica and hard rock, honest, open, and always sentimental’. The band members are lead vocalist Mike Gross, Josh Bonaparte on bass, Brandon Lowe on guitar, Ryan Miles on lead guitar, and David Adametz on drums. Their Facebook page says they’re signed to Six Gun Recordings, which explains their polished sound. I love their name because, well, neatness makes me nervous, and I quite like their hair. Hopefully I’ll hear a lot more music from these guys, and who knows, maybe we might get the chance to kick back, chill out, and eat ice cream sometime.

November The Mess

114 thoughts on “Introducing my new favourite band, The Mess

  1. With havin so much content do you ever run into any problems of plagorism or copyright violation? My blog has a lot of unique content I’ve either authored myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization. Do you know any techniques to help protect against content from being stolen? I’d really appreciate it.

  2. Hi there would you mind letting me know which hosting company you’re using? I’ve loaded your blog in 3 completely different browsers and I must say this blog loads a lot quicker then most. Can you suggest a good web hosting provider at a reasonable price? Thank you, I appreciate it!

  3. Hi, Neat post. There’s a problem with your website in internet explorer, might check this¡K IE still is the marketplace leader and a large section of folks will omit your fantastic writing due to this problem.

  4. I’ve been surfing online more than 3 hours lately, but I never discovered any fascinating article like yours. It is beautiful price sufficient for me. Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made excellent content as you probably did, the web will likely be much more helpful than ever before.

  5. I am really loving the theme/design of your site. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility issues? A handful of my blog visitors have complained about my blog not operating correctly in Explorer but looks great in Opera. Do you have any tips to help fix this issue?

  6. Nice post. I used to be checking continuously this blog and I’m impressed! Very useful information particularly the ultimate section 🙂 I care for such information a lot. I used to be looking for this particular information for a very long time. Thank you and best of luck.

  7. Nice post. I study something tougher on totally different blogs everyday. It would all the time be stimulating to read content material from different writers and apply just a little one thing from their store. I’d choose to make use of some with the content material on my weblog whether you don’t mind. Natually I’ll give you a hyperlink on your internet blog. Thanks for sharing.

  8. I was suggested this website by my cousin. I’m not sure whether this post is written by him as no one else know such detailed about my difficulty. You are incredible! Thanks!

  9. I carry on listening to the news update speak about getting boundless online grant applications so I have been looking around for the best site to get one. Could you advise me please, where could i get some?

  10. Yet another thing I would like to talk about is that as opposed to trying to match all your online degree lessons on days of the week that you end work (because most people are fatigued when they get home), try to get most of your classes on the weekends and only a couple of courses on weekdays, even if it means taking some time off your weekend. This is really good because on the weekends, you will be a lot more rested in addition to concentrated in school work. Many thanks for the different guidelines I have learned from your site.

  11. Great blog right here! Additionally your site quite a bit up fast! What web host are you using? Can I am getting your affiliate hyperlink on your host? I desire my website loaded up as quickly as yours lol

  12. I am very happy to read this. This is the type of manual that needs to be given and not the random misinformation that is at the other blogs. Appreciate your sharing this best doc.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.