Feature / Music
Pass The Mic: Artists and 2007

Words: Michael • Posted pre-2010

Quick Links: Blacklisted, Bridge Nine Records, Bullet Treatment, Ceremony, Coalesce, Coliseum/Black Cross, Converge, Die Young (TX), Forensics, Fucked Up, Jena Berlin, Lemuria, New Idea Society, The Out Circuit, Oxbow, Pulling Teeth, Ready the Jet, Rise and Fall, Rosetta, Set Your Goals, Scouts Honor, Skin Like Iron, This Time Next Year, Tokyo Police Club

Ceremony

Ryan Mattos

Scene Point Blank: What are your top five albums that were released in 2007?

  1. Sabertooth Zombie - Dance/The Prisoner
  2. Blacklisted - Peace on Earth, War on Stage
  3. Interpol - Our Love to Admire
  4. Allegiance - Desperation
  5. Go it Alone - Histories

Scene Point Blank: How will you remember 2007? (In terms of music)

Honestly, with my memory, it'll probably blend together with 2006 and 2008 within a few years. Off the top of my head, I remember Pulling Teeth at This is Hardcore, who I hadn't really heard before their set and loved by the end. I remember Modern Life is War playing an awesome set at Gilman. I remember Trash Talk getting big all of a sudden (a good thing). I remember an awesome Fucked Up 7", a lot of bad shit on the radio, seeing A.F.I. open for The Cure, and touring Europe.

Scene Point Blank: What kind of impact do you think donation-based releases like Radiohead, Saul Williams, etc? will have on the record industry?

I don't know who Saul Williams is. I think it could work if the bands and their fans (or audience, or kids, or "target market" whatever) have a good relationship with each other, but it could blow up huge in the band/labels face if there's not enough of a bond there. People that like Radiohead tend to love Radiohead, and are willing to be cool about it. For example, I trust The Cure to put out at least a decent record, but if it's some new big label band that will be gone in six months, nah dog. I think the music industry (I mean Island, Interscope, all that shit, not hardcore dudes doing labels out of their garages) has become geared towards the one hit wonder, which is the opposite of what this idea Radiohead set up is based on. That being said, I'd love to see what the actual number of sales compared to $ brought in was.

Scene Point Blank: 2007 saw the decommissioning of two prominent file-sharing groups - Demonoid and Oink. What kind of impact will the increased crackdown on file-sharing have on the record industry? Did it personally have an effect on you?

I've never used either of those, but not out of some moral thing, I just never got around to it. I think there's a lot more people on Oink's side than on the label's, so I'm sure something else will always pop up.

Scene Point Blank: What can we look forward to from your band in 2008?

A new LP and hella shows.

Scene Point Blank: What three records are you looking forward to most in 2008?

Blacklisted's "Heavier than Heaven, Lonelier than God," new A.F.I., and any band Chucky Edge starts.

Homepage: http://www.ceremonyhc.com

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