Alt-Rock band, The Penny Serfs have released their latest LP, Politics in a Time of Heroin.

Their lead singer, Mike Loy, took the time to speak to us about the writing process, his recovery from a near-fatal fall, and the future of the band.

Omayra Lopez [AltWire]: This is Omayra with Altwire.net, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview! For our readers and those who haven’t yet heard of you, could you please tell is a bit about yourselves and the history of the band?

Mike Loy [The Penny Serfs]: Hi Omayra, this is Mikey Loy the singer of The Penny Serfs. I have been working with Kyle, Stu & Aiden on The Penny Serfs since around 2013. I have been involved in groups and solo for sometime now, most noteworthy being the guitarist of the band Chronic Future in the early 2000s. When I met Kyle we were techs for Regina Spektor and hit it off immediately and made a commitment to be in a band together, the rest is history.

Omayra Lopez [AltWire]: What was the writing process like for Politics In The Time of Heroin? How did you decide which tracks went into the LP and which did not?

Mike Loy [The Penny Serfs]: We had some rough ideas together on voice notes and we had little rehearsal. We then went to Atlanta and tracked a record in a week with my friend and genius producer Rick Beato. I wanted to keep us on our toes and really naturally capture the band developing the song in the studio. By the third take it seemed that we had fully came up with our parts and we feeling really cohesive. I think really just going for it and keeping it spontaneous helps us keep the band fresh and on the same page.

Omayra Lopez [AltWire]: Mikey, what can you tell us about your recovery from your accident so far, and how has this return to music been treating you since? What advice would you give to anyone who may be facing what you have, leading up to this release?

Mike Loy [The Penny Serfs]: I am very fortunate and grateful to be alive. I’m also very humbled by the support from my family, friends, other artists i work for and our fans for helping me get back on my feet. My recovery was very quick for all of my broken bones, about six weeks and I suffered a massive concussion but did not have any long lasting brain damage.  I can still sing and play and dance around just fine, my right wrist is about 60 percent of what it used to be with strength so I am fortunate that I am left handed.

Advice from me about my fall… I know it isn’t easy.. but please, make sure to have healthcare. Of course I did not so it was a fundraiser situation until we could figure out an emergency insurance situation.

Second. If you are going to climb up high, always make sure to wear a harness and stay cautious and safe minded. I let these precautions slip from my mind.

Omayra Lopez [AltWire]: As this year comes to a close, what does the future hold for the band?

Mike Loy [The Penny Serfs]: In February 2019 we will be releasing a limited deluxe vinyl of the Politics Record, as well as a new EP in March, and then wrapping it up with an extensive tour to hopefully start around Sxsw time. Hopefully we will have some dates to post very soon. We are very excited for 2019 and can’t wait to keep playing together and breaking stuff 🙂

Omayra Lopez [AltWire]: What message would you like to send to your fans and our readers?

Mike Loy [The Penny Serfs]: Always stay positive because within sufferance sometimes magic can occur. We are all lucky to be alive and I’m very happy and lucky to still be playing guitar and singing in a band with my best buds.

Follow The Penny Serfs on Social Media:

http://thepennyserfs.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ThePennySerfs/

https://instagram.com/thepennyserfs?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=nsuq3960zdkp

http://www.twitter.com/thepennyserfs

https://open.spotify.com/album/3ErXkBVsqRVuvk8IdjI3xT?si=ErHNIX7KT7W3CVlOeNDo-w

Sun Dried Vibes (https://www.altwire.net/2018/02/08/altwire-interview-sun-dried-vibes/) recently released “Stay Hopeful” around Labor Day weekend, and this album goes to show that summer isn’t over just yet!

Their lead singer and guitarist, Zach Fowler took some time to talk about the album as the band celebrated their release at the Surrounded by the Sound Music and Arts Festival at beautiful Longcreek, South Carolina.

Omayra Lopez [AltWire]: What was the writing process like for this album, are there any tracks that are particularly meaningful?

Zach Fowler [Sun Dried Vibes]: The writing process for me is always different. I don’t like to keep my process limited to any one style, so I keep it open in order to keep the songs fresh every time. There were a lot of collaborations on this album, so it was a great pleasure to work alongside a lot of my closest musical friends. It was incredibly cool to have Eric Rachmany of Rebelution, a major influence on me personally, want to be a part of the song “Smoke Session.” I didn’t write the song and then solicit him to be on it. Rather, we were hanging out at his house in San Francisco a couple years ago, jamming in his backyard when he asked me to show him some stuff I was working on. I played him the song and he was really into it. He said then and there that he wanted to be a part of the track when we started recording it, so for me that was a pretty major milestone in my musical career.

Omayra Lopez [AltWire]: How did this year’s Surrounded by the Sound Festival compare to previous ones for you?

Zach Fowler [Sun Dried Vibes]: This years’ SBTS was extra special because the festival was sort of like our Album Release Party for Stay Hopeful. We spent so much time on this record and it was an incredible feeling to see it debut at #1 on iTunes the first day of the festival. I couldn’t think of a better place to drop an album that has meant so much to me. We also debuted our new line-up at SBTS this year, as we lost our founding bass player, Evan Tyler, but added three new members, making us a five piece band – Tyler Vickery on vocals and guitar, Cliff Bundick on bass and Kody Farris on auxiliary percussion. These three guys are a major addition to the SDV line up and I think people are going to be even more impressed with our live sound now with these guys in the band.

Personally, my favorite track so far has been “Hopeful”. It’s that perfect song to help you rise above any tough situation and an awesome reminder that tough times don’t last forever.

“Smoke Sessions” is another great gem, which features TreeHouse as well as reggae stars and the mentioned, Grammy nominees, Rebelution! This track is pretty self explanatory in that one of the most therapeutic things one can do is introspect over a smoke session.

Overall this is a great album to celebrate the end of summer. Currently on tour, catch their vibes at a city near you!

Follow Sun Dried Vibes on Social Media:

Official:
http://www.letsgetsundried.com

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/sdvmusic

Instagram and Twitter:
@sundriedvibes

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/4W8S4RdrwDIcIaAZ7W6Ahs

iTunes:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/sun-dried-vibes/460553339

SoundCloud:
http://soundcloud.com/sundriedvibes

After a small break from the scene, Florida based Reggae/Ska-Punk band Dub-321 have begun to make their comeback. Just recently during Slightly Stoopid’s summer tour, the band played at their Official After Party in Cocoa with with St. Petersburg-based band, Summer Survivors and California-based, Tunnel Vision.

We recently caught up with lead singer Miles “Ras” Galli, for a brief chat on how he’s moving the band forward:

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]: How has your transition been from your time in prison to your release?  

Miles Galli: It was a little strange at first and took some adjusting but I was blessed to have found these guys that I am currently working with so soon. The supportive reception we have received since returning to the scene by both fans as well as other bands has been unbelievable. We just picked up a keyboardist, which has really elevated our sound to another level. All in all the transition has been amazing and I couldn’t imagine all this happening any more perfectly.

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]: What’s in store for the band at this moment?

Miles Galli: We are definitely excited to see what the future holds. Right now we are booking more and more shows and expanding our territory systematically. We just got done playing an awesome show with Kash’d Out! We’re also currently working on a new CD titled Braving Babylon that will be finished and released by the end of the year.

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]: Thank you again, Miles for sharing your story with the Altwire family! 

Dub-321 just recently released their live recording, From Prison to Paradise, which was recorded at Captain Hiram’s Sandbar in beautiful Sebastian, Florida. The performance in it’s entirety can be found and downloaded here.

Connect with Dub-321:

BandCamp

https://dub-321.bandcamp.com

Facebook 

https://facebook.com/dub321/

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/dub321music

Vans Warped Tour is the largest traveling music festival in the country, and a platform for some of the greatest names in the rock scene, as well up and coming local and regional bands, to get their music heard. Among them are an incredibly talented band called Up From Here. The Tampa, Florida based punk-rock band took some time to talk to Altwire about what’s ahead for them and their thoughts on the Final Warped Tour.

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]: Would you please tell us a little bit about yourself, and the history of Up From Here?

Up From Here: We are a 4-piece pop-punk band from Tampa, Florida consisting of vocalist Danny Anderson, bassist Bern Mustian, guitarist Tyler Houser, and drummer Alex Boeving. We formed in January of 2015 after all of us meeting on Facebook. We’re surprised it has worked out as well as it has.

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]: What was the inspiration for the name of your band?

Up From Here: “Up From Here” comes from a lyric in a song called “Same Thing We Do Everyday Pinky” by the band Broadway.

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]: What’s your writing process like, and how do you decide which songs you release to the public?

Up From Here: The progression and lyrics of the song, or “skeleton” of the song, is written pretty much entirely by our vocalist Danny. After that is made he presents it to the rest of the band and then all four of us make it into what ends up getting recorded. We have written many different songs that haven’t been released or didn’t make the cut for a release. Once we get ready to record we take every song we’ve written and have a voting process between the four of us to decide what makes it onto the album.

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]: What has it been like to be a part of Vans Warped Tour and how do you feel about this final tour?

Up From Here: All four of us have grown up going to Warped Tour and it has played a crucial part in the evolution of our band considering we’ve played the Tampa stop of the tour three times. All of us are extremely sad to see the tour go. We’re a little disappointed that we never got to play the entirety of the tour before its end, but we’re extremely grateful for the opportunities we’ve been given to play the Florida dates.

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]: What are your best memories from previous Warped Tours? 

Up From Here: We’ve all been going to the Warped Tour since we were probably all in middle school, but we’ve played the Tampa date of it three times: 2015, 2017, and 2018. The first time we played it in 2015 we played the Ernie Ball stage after winning the Ernie Ball Battle of The Bands competition. That year all of us were ecstatic about playing the music festival that ultimately got us into this scene of music. However, in 2017 we got to play the main stage (Journey’s Left Foot) after winning the Ernie Ball PLAY Warped Tour contest. That was an unreal moment for all of us as we got to play a set on the biggest stage any of us have ever played on in front of the biggest crowd we’ve ever played for.

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]: How has this tour compared to the first time you played? 

Up From Here: When we first played in 2015 we had a pretty decent draw to our set but it was mostly our family and friends. When we got to play this year we were greeted by not only our family and friends, but also Up From Here fans that traveled from all sides of Florida to catch our set. We probably had the biggest crowd all day on the Full Sail stage.

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]: What advice would you give to new artists coming into the scene?

Up From Here: Keep working, don’t give up, don’t cut corners, don’t be petty, and be the best band you can possibly be.

AltWire [Omayra Lopez]:Is there a message you would like to send to your fans and our readers before we close?

Up From Here: We’re releasing a new 7-song EP in about a month-ish that was produced by Rian Dawson from All Time Low. Stay tuned for that as we’re all very proud of it and stoked to release it to everyone.

BandCamp:
https://upfromhere.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:
https://m.facebook.com/UpFromHereMusic/

Twitter:
https://twitter.com/UpFromHereMusic

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/upfromheremusic

Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/2kHeSr5HB3xqBCt1ve4fll?si=6YXP3sc7TGGh43wgW231eA