Blue October
| Blue October | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 |
|
| General information | |
| origin | Houston , Texas , United States |
| Genre (s) | Rock , alternative rock , post-grunge , progressive rock , art rock |
| founding | 1995 |
| Website | www.blueoctober.com |
| Founding members | |
| Justin Furstenfeld | |
| Jeremy Furstenfeld | |
| Ryan Delahoussaye | |
| Liz Mullally (until 1999) | |
| Current occupation | |
Vocals, rhythm guitar
|
Justin Furstenfeld |
Drums |
Jeremy Furstenfeld |
Violin, mandolin, piano, background vocals
|
Ryan Delahoussaye |
Bass, backing vocals |
Matt Noveskey (1999–2002, since 2005) |
| former members | |
guitar |
Brant Coulter (2000-2001) |
guitar |
CB Hudson (2001-2011) |
bass |
Dwayne Casey (2002-2003) |
bass |
Piper Skih (2003-2005) |
| Julian Mandrake (2006–2007, 2011–2012) | |
Blue October is a rock band from the United States , from Houston , Texas native.
The band was founded in 1995 and currently consists of lead singer Justin Furstenfeld , drummer Jeremy Furstenfeld , Ryan Delahoussaye , who plays violin, mandolin and piano, guitarist Julian Mandrake and Matt Noveskey on bass guitar.
The texts written by Justin Furstenfeld are about the singer's personal life experiences and dealing with mental disorders . Furstenfeld has been suffering from depression since he was 14 years old . He says that for him music is the only way to express his feelings. The band is a member of the German organization Friends for Life and supports them in educating people about depression and suicide .
Blue October play alternative rock , meanwhile the music style of the group could also be classified as post-grunge and progressive rock . The band itself describes the style of music as "bipolar art rock".
Since it was founded in 1995, Blue October has released eight studio albums, three concert albums and several singles, which are particularly well known in the USA . The seventh studio album Sway was released in 2013, the eighth studio album Home has been available since April 2016.
Band history
Background: 1989 to 1995 (The Last Wish)
In 1989, Justin Furstenfeld, then 13 years old, who attended High School for the Performing and Visual Arts , founded the band The Last Wish . At that time the band consisted of Amy Immel, Katy Hartzog, Michelle Trautwein, Greg Hammond, Leital Molad, Brady Hammond and singer Furstenfeld. Ryan Delahoussaye , who also attended High School for the Performing and Visual Arts , joined the band as a live member. She released two albums and a vinyl LP. A third CD was supposed to be produced, but the band split up in 1995. Justin Furstenfeld founded the band Blue October shortly afterwards.
1995–2006: The beginnings - the first successes and crash landings
The band was founded in 1995 by Justin Furstenfeld, his brother Jeremy Furstenfeld, Ryan Delahoussaye and Liz Mullally. In 1998 the band released their first album - " The Answers " . The production of the album was financed out of pocket. The album was sold 5000 times in Houston. Just before the album was released, Justin Furstenfeld made his first appearance in psychiatry . In 1999, Liz Mullally, a co-founder of Blue October, left the band. Matt Noveskey became bass player for Blue October.
Two years after the release of the debut album, the band signed a record deal with the Universal label . The Answers was re-recorded under the label and thanks to the modern recording options, the band managed to improve the sound on the second version of the album significantly. There the group released their second album " Consent to Treatment " . This album did not sell well, whereupon Universal terminated the contract. In an interview with FM5 in 2009, Justin Furstenfeld confessed that Universal had made no mistake in their decision to fire the group. Guitarist Brant Coulter left Blue October in 2001 and was replaced by CB Hudson, who also acted as a background singer in the band alongside Justin Furstenfeld and Matt Noveskey. Noveskey separated from the group after 3 years in 2002. In the same year Dwayne Casey followed Noveskey. However, he stayed with the band for only one year. So Casey is the only member of the band who was not actively involved in any Blue October release. With Piper Skih, the fourth bass player joined Blue October within 4 years.
On April 8, 2003 the band released their third studio album, " History for Sale " , which contains the song Calling You (this song can be heard in the soundtrack for the third part of American Pie ). Through the song Somebody , the band received a new contract from Universal. In February 2005 the band released their first live album called " Argue with a Tree " . In this live album, the singer processes the failed relationship with his ex-girlfriend. In the same year bassist Piper Skih left the group and Matt Noveskey returned to the band.
2006–2011: The international breakthrough
After the release of Argue with a Tree, the band toured live for 18 months. Noveskey had left the band, but returned to record the album " Foiled " with the band , which was released on April 4, 2006. In the same year Justin Furstenfeld broke his wrist so that he was unable to play guitar, so the band was supported by Julian Mandrake on guitar for some concerts. In Canada , the album sold 100,000 copies, reaching platinum in February 2007 . In the USA, the platinum award took place on February 22, 2007 by the RIAA . The album “Foiled” was re-released on March 24, 2007 : The first disc “ Foiled for the Last Time ” contains 14 newly recorded tracks, the second disc “Teach your Baby well” contains live recordings of their last live tour. For the album, a promo CD was released with Foiled Again , which contains three songs. These got buyers who bought foiled for the last time at Best Buy. The CD contains an acoustic version of Hate Me and two live acoustic songs for Razorblade and Into the Ocean . Another promotional CD is Hate Me Acoustic . Immediately after this release, the band went on tour with the group Yellowcard . The band's tour has taken them to the US , UK , Germany , the Netherlands , France , Ireland , Mexico and Canada. The band played the Lollapalooza Festival in August 2007 and played with White Rabbits , Heartless Bastards , !!! and TV on the Radio on the MySpace stage .
In August 2008, Blue October front singer Justin Furstenfeld toured four cities in the United States together with the youth book author Stephenie Meyer (including Until (s) dawn ). This was a book presentation by the author, which was accompanied musically by Furstenfeld. All appearances were sold out. The author is one of the band's most famous fans. One book mentions that Blue October are one of the bands Meyer is said to have encouraged to write her books in the Twilight series. She heard the song " Hate Me " when she wrote the scene in her book New Moon in which Edward leaves Bella.
On March 24th, 2009 the band released the album " Approaching Normal " , which was produced by Steve Lillywhite and MacKenzie Wilson from the All Music Guide label . On October 20, 2009 , Justin had to cancel his appearance at the Pick Up The Phone Press Conference in Washington, DC because he was hospitalized as a medical emergency. The tour was also canceled due to a mental relapse of the singer. Doctors were of the opinion that the singer could not survive the rigors of a tour after being hospitalized. Lest he suicide could commit, the tour was canceled. From February 27, 2010 the band was on a European tour, where they also played in Germany and Luxembourg . This tour was accompanied by the organization Friends for Life , which is supported by the band. Their single Jump Rope is the first to make it into the German single charts . She ended up in 65th place and stayed there for nine weeks. On April 9, 2010 two more singles were released in Germany: Should Be Loved and Picking Up Pieces .
Blue October played in July together with Lostprophets , Scouting for Girls , Aura Dione , Unheilig , Skunk Anansie , Ohrbooten , Maradona and the Killerpilzen at the Ferro Festival , which is organized by Jump and took place in Ferropolis near Graefenhainichen . The band played for the first time in August 2010 at the Frequency Festival in St. Pölten , where the band performed together with Serj Tankian , Deadmau5 , Klaxons , The Drums , Billy Talent , the dead pants , General Fiasco and Massive Attack . It was the band's second appearance in Austria . In August an appearance on the Pukkelpop in Belgium followed.
Blue October also went on their Pick Up The Phone US tour . There they played at the goat festival and the Fenzy case, among others . The group also played with the legendary rock band Aerosmith . On April 14, 2010 Blue October played with the post-hardcore band Red Jumpsuit Apparatus at the House of Blues.
The band gave several acoustic concerts in July 2010, several of which were recorded for their first unplugged album . Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening with Blue October was released on May 10, 2011 in the United States. The first preparations for the sixth studio album were made on June 1st. The album, produced by Tim Palmer , was released worldwide in the summer of 2011.
In early 2011, guitarist CB Hudson announced that he was leaving Blue October to pursue a new project.
2011–2013: Further setbacks and international successes
Since the beginning of the year, the band has been working on their sixth studio album, which was released on August 16, 2011 ( USA ) and ten days later in Europe . With the departure of their guitarist CB Hudson, the work on the new album was hardly made difficult. Kevin Schiltz, the guitarist of the American rock band Longwave Blue October supported them with their recordings. The album is called " Any Man in America " . Furstenfeld said in an interview that he chose this name for the album because he believed that the same thing could happen to any father in the USA. The album landed at number eight on the US charts. The album was produced by Up / Down Records - the newly founded independent label of singer Justin Furstenfeld . Previously, the band turned down a 360 ° deal from their previous label Universal Motown in order to be more independent from the major label . In an interview with The Huffington Post , Furstenfeld revealed that he wanted to play "real" music, which was another reason for starting his own label. The album is distributed by Brando Records - Blue October also released the successful album “ History for Sale ” on this label - and Megaforce Records . On September 12th, Any Man in America entered the German album charts at number 100 , but left the charts again a week later. It is the first album in the German charts. Julian Mandrake, who supported the band as a session musician between 2006 and 2007, has been the group's new guitarist since 2011. With The Chills and The Feel Again (Stay) the group released two singles for the new album. Feel Again was first played at a concert on May 4, 2011. Two days later the group played in St. Louis / Missouri with The Follow Through another song from the follow-up album of Approaching Normal. Singer Justin Furstenfeld played this song as a duet with Patricia, the singer of the group The Soldier Thread . This album is largely about the singer's divorce with Lisa and the dispute over custody of their daughter. Bill Brotherton of the Boston Herald described the album as a "brutally honest album" in which singer Justin Furstenfeld portrays the ugly side of relationships. Brotherton cited "The Money Tree," "The Chills," and "Any Man in America" as examples. He is also of the opinion that divorced fathers who feel abandoned by the courts could see a comrade in Furstenfeld.
In May 2011 the band released an acoustic album with 11 songs entitled " The Ugly Side: An Acoustic Evening with Blue October " . The songs were recorded during their US tour. It is the band's first unplugged album and also their third live album. The producer is Justin's brother Jeremy, who works as a drummer for the band. On May 28, 2011 Ugly Side rose to number 79 in the US charts.
In November 2011 Blue October was back in Europe. The group will give concerts in the UK , Germany , Luxembourg , Austria , Switzerland and the Netherlands . From February 24th 2012 and March 8th 2012 Blue October singer Justin Furstenfeld is on a solo music tour through Germany and the United Kingdom. This tour is called "The Voice of Blue October - Justin Furstenfeld Acoustic Tour". The group played on April 22, 2012 at the Egdefest , where the band has performed several times, most recently in 2009.
In December 2011 it was announced that the compilation CD "All About Bullies ... Big and Small" on which the group is represented with the title "Jump Rope", for the Grammy Award in the category "Best Children's Album" (to German: "Best Children's Album") was nominated. On February 12, 2012, the compilation received the Grammy Award. In the meantime, the live album " Argue with a Tree " has been released again on CD in Europe . On June 14, 2012, the RIAA announced in the USA that the single " Into the Ocean " had reached platinum status for 1,000,000 units sold as download. The "Quiet Mind" tour begins on September 29, 2012 in San Marcos (Texas) , which includes 34 concerts (one of them in Canada ) and ends on November 24, 2012 in Dallas .
2013-today: Sway
In October 2012 Furstenfeld had already written almost all of the songs for the seventh studio album. The paperwork was completed by the end of the year. For the work in the studio, the group worked with David Castell , who also produced History for Sale and Foiled . It was planned to release the first single in February 2013.
On February 5, 2013, the group moved into the studio. The recordings were completed on March 27, 2013. It became known that "Angels in Everything", "Bleed Out", "Debris", "Fear", "Hard Candy", "Light You Up", "Snow Globe", "Still Broken", "Sway", " Things We Do at Night ”and“ Things We Don't Know ”will be on the upcoming album. The song "Still Broken" was already released on The First of February by The Last Wish in 1995. The first single was released in June and Sway's album was released on August 30, 2013. The group financed the production of the album through crowdfunding about "PledgeMusic", because the group split from their label and has been working as an independent band ever since.
In November the group toured Russia , Ukraine , Germany and the United Kingdom . The concerts took place in Moscow , Saint Petersburg , Kiev , Munich , Berlin , Cologne , Mannheim , Frankfurt am Main , Birmingham , Manchester and London . Mandrake is no longer a musician with Blue October, so the group works as a quartet. For the Sway Tour through the United States , CB Hudson supported the group as a live musician.
Music style and topic
Blue October plays alternative rock with post-grunge and emo elements, which can be heard in some of the band's songs and visible in their lyrics. For example, the melody in the song Calling You increases from the beginning of the title to the end of the song.
Because of the emotionality in the band's lyrics, which are written by singer Justin Furstenfeld , and the singer's emotional choreography at concerts, the band's music can also be partially assigned to emo.
The singer himself describes the music style of the band as bi-polar art rock , due to the fact that the mood in the individual songs is changeable, literally having "ups" and "downs" . Furstenfeld used the term Bi-Polar-Art-Rock in an interview with Vertigo.fm , whereby he chose the genre name Bi-Polar-Art-Rock only on the basis of the musical characteristics and sees no connection to bipolar disorder . The Stuttgarter Zeitung describes the term “bipolar art rock” as a multi-faceted style that lies between emo, progressive and alternative rock.
The most common theme in the band's songs is suicide and depression . So the songs on the first album The Answers mainly contained these two themes. Singer Furstenfeld, who is also a songwriter, reports in some songs from his life. The best example of this is the song Hate Me , in which the mother of the singer and the drummer was also represented. This song is mostly about asking his mother to hate him in a way that he can't handle, for the reason that he didn't do anything for his mother. The live album Argue with a Tree describes the singer's relationship with his then girlfriend Amanda, which broke up. The song Into the Ocean describes the subject of suicide. The protagonist throws himself overboard because he loses his great love. Only when he realizes that he can't swim does he fight for his life. In the end, the protagonist wakes up from his dream, but notices that his great love is really gone and wishes to die. The song Calling You, on the other hand, describes the singer's happiness in meeting a woman who loves him. In the song, however, it also becomes clear that the protagonist reacts very unsettled and calls his love to know what she is dreaming of. This song also shows how this woman turned the life of the protagonist for the better. The song Say It from the album Approaching Normal , which was released in 2009, consists mainly of a personal message from the singer, in which he says that he does not want to be a victim of his soul again and again, but a happy and free-thinking individual. Furstenfeld describes the genesis of his texts in the following words:
“ I don't remember writing these songs,” he says. “They just come out like that when it gets too much for me. It's like finding your inner peace. I don't feel so hurt anymore about this failed relationship. I'm in a better place now. I'm just waiting to finally write this happy song. I welcome it with open arms. " "
Furstenfeld dealt with his illness in the band's older lyrics. So in the song Ugly Side he reveals that he has a dark, ugly side. In his book Crazy Making he describes that this song was created after he got to know this side. In Inner Glow , he describes his mood swings and compares them to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde .
Clumsy Card House was built on a rainy day. He says that this song describes his dream of his future wife and child.
additional
- The band supports the Friends for Life campaign , which educates people about depression and suicide . The band wants to help the club to become more present on the upcoming Germany tour. Blue October singer Justin Furstenfeld also supports the awareness campaign “ To Write Love on Her Arms ”, which also deals with the subject of suicide and depression.
- The band's musicians are friends with the groups Bowling for Soup and Socialburn .
- In April 2009 Justin Furstenfeld published his first book with the title "Crazy Making - The Words and Lyrics of Justin Furstenfeld" through Paris On Paper . In this book the singer describes the background to the creation of the songs. The book also contains a short biography of the band from the beginning, as well as a dedication from bestselling author Stephenie Meyer .
- Blue October was initially managed by Justin and Jeremy Furstenfeld's parents. The debut album (" The Answers ") appeared on "RoDan Entertainment" and sold 5,000 copies in Houston alone .
- The band was discovered by Michael Rand, the former Kid Rock manager , while performing at the Atchafalaya River Cafe.
- Former guitarist CB Hudson has a degree in psychology . He is also said to be related to a Scottish king from the 18th century, according to the band's German fansite.
- It also says there that the brothers Jeremy and Justin Furstenfeld are said to be related to Elvis Presley .
- CB Hudson and Matt Noveskey have opened their own recording studio in Austin , Texas . This is called Orb Recording Studios
Discography
Studio albums
| year | Title music label |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, music label , placements, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 US
|
|||
| 1998 |
The Answers RoDan Entertainment |
- | - |
First published: 1998
|
| 2000 |
Consent to Treatment Universal Records |
- | - |
First published: August 15, 2000
|
| 2003 |
History for Sale Brando Records |
- | - |
First published: April 8, 2003
|
| 2006 |
Foiled Universal Records |
- |
US29  (62 weeks)US |
First published: April 4, 2006
|
| 2009 |
Approaching Normal Universal Records |
- |
US13 (16 weeks) US |
First published: March 24, 2009
|
| 2011 |
Any Man in America Up / Down Records |
DE100 (1 week) DE |
US8 (4 weeks) US |
First published: August 16, 2011
|
| 2013 |
Sway Up / Down Records |
- |
US13 (3 weeks) US |
First published: August 30, 2013
|
| 2016 | Home Up / Down Records |
- |
US19 (1 week) US |
First published: April 22, 2016
|
| 2018 | I Hope You're Happy Up / Down Records |
- |
US28 (1 week) US |
First published: August 17, 2018
|
swell
- ↑ Cindyroyal.com: One Bad Month Leads to One Good Band (PDF; 71 kB) Article on cindyroyal.com
- ↑ Florian Kroha: Motor.de : "Bipolarer Artrock" - Interview with Blue October ( memento of the original from March 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , published March 10, 2010, accessed December 23, 2011
- ↑ Crazy Making, p. 1
- ↑ FM5 : Interview with Blue October ( Memento of the original from December 15, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , published September 23, 2009, accessed December 23, 2011
- ^ Austin Chronicle : Draw the line: Blue October Rebuilds
- ↑ Music Canada : Canada Album Awards in 2007
- ↑ See RIAA.com Gold & Platinum. The album must be searched for under Advanced Search. Here, only the band name and the title of the album are sufficient for the information.
- ↑ a b Brian Jacks: 'Breaking Dawn' Sells 1.3 Million Copies In One Day , MTV . August 4, 2008. Retrieved September 10, 2008.
- ↑ Katherine Krohn: Stephenie Meyer: Dreaming of Twilight , page 61 (published 2011)
- ↑ Stephenie Meyer revealed in an interview on Up2City.de ( memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , however, this is no longer available.
- ↑ newmoonmovie.org : Blue October song inspired Stephenie Meyer while writing New Moon ( Memento of the original from January 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ MySpace blog of the band: Information about the incident ( Memento of the original from February 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The band's official Myspace blog: BLUE OCTOBER ANNOUNCES THE CANCELLATION OF THE PICK UP THE PHONE TOUR 2009 DUE TO LEAD SINGER'S HOSPITALIZATION ( memento of the original from October 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked . Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Official German charts
- ↑ Frequency : Blue October confirms the festival date ( memento of the original from April 29, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Kelly Peters: The Blast Magazine : The Blast Interview with Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October , published April 12, 2010, accessed December 23, 2011
- ↑ a b Jon Chattman: The Huffington Post : Blue October's Furstenfeld Discusses 'Making Reality Music' And Fighting For His Daughter , published on August 2nd 2011, accessed 10 January 2012
- ^ Guitarworld: Interview with Justin Furstenfeld of Blue October
- ↑ Bill Brotherton: Boston Herald : Album review Any Man in America ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , published September 7, 2011, accessed January 10, 2012
- ↑ allaboutbulliesbigandsmall.com: Press Release: Grammy Nomination (PDF; 88 kB)
- ^ RIAA : Gold & Platinum's Good Vibrations , published June 14, 2012, accessed August 7, 2012
- ↑ 78triple6.com: The Quiet Mind Tour
- ↑ Johnny Price: Interview: Justin Furstenfeld of 'Blue October' . October 9, 2012. Retrieved April 11, 2013.
- ↑ Blue October Interview . Retrieved April 11, 2013.
- ↑ KDGE's Jessie Jessup interviews Justin Furstenfeld . Retrieved April 11, 2013.
- ↑ pledgemusic.com: We're Making A New Album!
- ↑ outspoken.de: BLUE OCTOBER: Winter European tour confirmed!
- ↑ Vertigo.fm : Blue October interviewed about the Twilight tour with Stephenie Meyer
- ↑ Stuttgarter Zeitung : The Texans present their seventh studio album "Any Man In America" ( Memento from November 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), published on November 15, 2011
- ↑ Crazy Making, p. 38
- ↑ Crazy Making, p. 46
- ↑ Crazy Making, p. 39
- ↑ Vertigo.fm: Blue October supports friends for life (article vertigo.fm )
- ↑ goodreads.com: Crazy Making - information and reader reviews
- ^ Allmusic : MacKenzie Wilson: Blue October Biography
- ↑ Yahoo : Jonathan Dean: Interview with CB Hudson ( Memento of the original from July 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , published December 19, 2006, accessed December 30, 2011
- ↑ See blueoctoberfan.de under FAQ, the website entertainmentworld.us is given as the source, but this link is no longer available
- ↑ See previous itemization
- ↑ Orb Recording Studios : Official Homepage (English)
- ↑ Chart tracking albums: US DE
literature
- Little Boy Blue Houston Press , June 3, 2010.
- Crazy Making, Justin Furstenfeld , 2010.
- Draw the line Austin Chronicle
- One Bad Moment Leads To A Good Band (PDF; 71 kB) Cindyroyal.com
Web links
- official homepage
- Blue October at laut.de
- Blue October at Allmusic (English)
- Blue October at Discogs (English)
- Blue October on bandliste.de
- Blue October at spirit-of-rock.com
- Blue October at spirit-of-metal.com
- Behind the scenes / Making of Hate Me from Blue October ( WMV ; 15.8 MB)
- Lyrics of the band (English)