by Jane Lambert

Video Voyager: The Speaker Wars “It Ain’t Easy”

Hall of Fame drummer Stan Lynch and singer-songwriter Jon Christopher Davis have come together to create the music they want on their own terms; they are The Speaker Wars. Their music has a vintage classic rock vibe with a contemporary spin. Their video for their latest single “It Ain’t Easy” is simple yet effective. It’s all in black and white and depicts the band playing in the studio. The song itself if about aging in any industry, but specifically the music industry for Stan and Jon. Getting older doesn’t have to be a negative thing and this video shows their grace and acceptance of it. Just them playing music is all they need to share this message.

We spoke with Jon Christopher Davis about the video. Let’s dive in:

Tell us the story of this song, why did you choose to visualize this song specifically in this way?

“It Ain’t Easy”‘ is about finding a renewed sense of purpose while learning how to age gracefully. I think it speaks to the confrontation of aging in any industry.

What was the inspiration behind this video?

To simply show that mojo doesn’t have an expiration date unless you let it. Getting older and wiser is cool. It’s a privilege and it’s liberating. Life gets mighty precious when there’s less of it to waste.

What was the process of making this video?

We shot our scenes separately during the middle of the pandemic. Stan was in Florida, and I was in Texas. It’s always a challenge whenever you can’t be in the same room, but it turned out great thanks to our director, Brad Osborne. It’s simple and soulful, and that’s what The Speaker Wars are all about.

Watch here:

Connect with The Speaker Wars via:
Website // Instagram // Facebook // YouTube // Spotify // Soundcloud

08.26.22

by Jane Lambert

Ben&Ben Release First Ever English Single “The Ones We Once Loved”

Ben&Ben is bursting into the American music industry with their first ever English song, “The Ones We Once Loved.” Along with their new single and an accompanied visually stunning music video, Ben&Ben is also announcing their debut North American tour. Currently the number one band in the Philippines, Ben&Ben is formed by twin duo, Miguel Benjamin and Paolo Benjamin, as well as, Poch Barretto, Keifer Cabugao, Andrew De Pano, Toni Muñoz, Pat Lasaten, Anges Reoma and Jam Villanueva.

Critically acclaimed in the Philippines, Ben&Ben has decided to bring their musical genius to the States with their debut English song, “The Ones We Once Loved.” This emotional ballad pulls on the heartstrings of all who listen, pulling them into the realm of broken young love. The flowing piano melody perfectly accompanies the passionate feelings behind the song’s lyrics. Deep, moving words paint the story of hard lessons learned from relationships that once were, and partners that were once loved. “The Ones We Once Loved” is the ultimate, sentimental goodbye between lost lovers, making it the perfect single to break-through Ben&Ben’s established fandom in the Philippines, to shattering the top charts of the U.S. music world.

Ben&Ben has mastered their own original sound of folk-pop music, which has landed them over a billion streams on Spotify and 2.6M subscribers on YouTube. They have also collaborated with American artists Us The Duo and Bernard Harvey. In addition, the band’s first album Limasawa Street was awarded a Quadruple Platinum status. Ben&Ben was nominated for the Best Southeast Asia Act at the 2020 MTV Europe Music Awards, Best Asian Band at the 2022 BandLab NME Awards, and won 8 Awit Awards, 2 MYX Awards, and 9 Wish Music Awards. They have also performed internationally, at festivals in Hong Kong, South Korea, Dubai and Singapore. Adding to the international list, Ben&Ben’s first North American tour is set to hit 8 U.S. and Canadian cities from September to October 2022. The tour will open with a send-off concert at the CCP Open Grounds in Manila, Philippines, September 3, 2022.

Aside from Ben&Ben’s long-standing record of international support and success, the band has a passion and drive for philanthropic endeavors in the community. During COVID-19, Ben&Ben started fundraising campaigns in support of students and teachers’ e-learning needs, in total raising $110,000.00 USD.

Ben&Ben LIVE on Tour 2022:

9/23 – San Francisco, CA

9/24 – Los Angeles, CA

10/1 – Calgary, AB

10/2 – Edmonton, AB

10/6 – Vancouver, BC

10/9 – Toronto, ON

10/14 – Washington DC

10/15 – New York, NY

ABOUT Ben&Ben

Ben&Ben are a folk pop/pop rock band from the Philippines. Debuting in 2015, the band consists of nine members and are currently the number one band in the Philippines. They have over a billion streams on Spotify and have performed in many music festivals all over the world including Hong Kong’s Clockenflap Music & Arts Festival 2019, Singapore Music Matters, and YouTube Fanfest. Ben&Ben have won numerous awards such as NME Awards “Best Asian Band” and Wish Music Awards “Group of the Year”. They have also been nominated for MTV Europe Music Awards “Best Southeast Asian Act”. Their debut studio album Limasawa Street was certified 4x Platinum in the Philippines.

Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | Spotify | YouTube

08.25.22

by Jane Lambert

Chudi Harris Entices On “How It’s Always Been”

Based out of Halifax, Nova Scotia, recording and performing artist Chudi Harris has taken his distinct sound and live performance experience around Atlantic and Central Canada. With multiple EPs, singles and collaborations to his credit, this alternative R&B artist and singer-songwriter is poised to make a giant leap into the Canadian music landscape. Highlights of his young career thus far include opening for Rich Aucoin, Born Ruffians, Weaves and Lowell and collaborating with Aquakultre, T. Thomason, Ghettosocks, and Tachichi.

Written during the summer, Chudi’s new single, “How It’s Always Been,” takes direct inspiration from the season’s warm weather and fun vibes. Although the song does lean towards romantic love, it’s also influenced by the love and security that can be shared between friends and family.

08.25.22

by Jane Lambert

Sufferin Mall Catch Up with “The Chase”

Sufferin Mall is the project of Yoyo Comay, a musician and poet from Toronto. It is a space for him to explore the relationship between desire and suffering. Initially, this exploration will take the form of a musical project, Crushed, which will be released in 2022. The sound of the EP is twisted metal and spun sugar, like licking honey off of a razor blade.

The bridge of lead single “The Chase,” with its near nonsensical stream of syllables, is fine-tuned to provide maximal sonic pleasure. While poetry and pop music might seem to be at odds with one-another, these two practices are connected by Yoyo’s obsession with the sonic properties of language. In both cases, he is always looking for the sounds which hit the ear just right and are chewy in the mouth.

Stream “The Chase” now:

https://bfan.link/the-chase-1

Yoyo is half of dream-folk duo Lottery with Elyse Parr, and a founding member of the Toronto Experimental Translation Collective. He is currently completing his Master’s in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto, where he is working on a novel which builds upon the Sufferin Mall universe.

08.25.22

by Jane Lambert

Ryan Bourne Unveils “Anemone Sound”

Calgary-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Bourne is about to transport you to another era with his psychedelic new song, “Anemone Sound.”

There are a few unconventional things happening in the song, musique concrete nods with long strains of backwards cymbal and flute sampled from cassette recordings that Ryan made. There’s also these traffic sounds inspired by a transition in Mingus’ Cumbia & Jazz Fusion where all these jungle bird sounds and traditionally-inspired Cumbia elements suddenly pivot into a midtempo bebop and it feels like you’re suddenly seamlessly transported to Greenwich Village in the 50s… Ryan definitely wanted to emulate this transportive quality.

“I wanted to play with this metaphor of a lover being a siren or a sea god, a mythical psychedelic creature whose love took you through a kind of ego death,” says Ryan. “In this sense it could refer to spiritual love, spiritual transformation, the death of the old, rebirth of the new, illuminated self.”

08.24.22

by Jane Lambert

Lenni Revel’s Intricate New Single “Annabelle” Shares a Meaningful Message

Lenni Revel lived what felt to her like a pop star fantasy; 5 Grammy submissions, her image on billboards in Times Square, A&R agents courting her. But she traded it all in to kick her prescription Adderall addiction cold turkey in a shed outside of her parent’s house. Lenni was trying to sober up from the drugs and hype of the life she was living, a life she admits she had created. The momentum of years of the lifestyle did not just change with her mind overnight. When she might have been wiser to ease herself off of drugs she chose to go at sobriety the way she’d gone after everything else—all in or nothing. The ambition for overnight clarity and sobriety backfired and she was eventually admitted to a psych ward and put on a mandatory suicide watch. Once out of the facility, she set upon continuing her path to a more genuine life. A week after her 25th birthday she thought she would slowly re-enter the world taking a day gig job by responding to a Craigslist ad to help someone pack up their garage in preparation to move. That someone was Robert Revel. He would become her husband and the musical muse to get her back into the music business with a clear soul and an indefatigable passion.

“I wish I could tell you that upon seeing Robert for the first time, the heavens opened, and our romantic story began right away. It just didn’t happen like that. I remember feeling strangely at ease on first impression with him,” Lenni says. “He effortlessly saw into who I was as a person. There may not have been the cliché ‘sparks’ between us but there was a deeper fire at the core that initially I think we both sensed. I knew I was going to marry him.”

Lenni’s new single “Annabelle” was written by Robert when he was single and dating. He shared with Lenni that he remembered sensing that the women he was seeing weren’t experiencing a certain quality of freedom that allowed them to really shine, that many were either acting out social norms, or engaged heavily in reacting against them. Robert wrote “Annabelle” about those male-imposed values pushing women to stay in a woman’s “place” and made them high-value targets with Lenni’s powerful vocals breaking the glass ceiling of every outdated feminine archetype. Lenni’s voice provides a moving and powerful sense of taking back your power and sense of self. The song’s crescendo ends in a guttural gasp from Lenni, catching her breath from underneath what feels like a millennia of suppression.

And Lenni’s voice is unique. There is such an emotional depth and sincerity, that it is almost peerless. She sings with both purpose and passion. Comparisons to Fiona Apple, Stevie Nicks or Miley Cyrus only fall short of actually hearing the raw and velvety smooth sounds in her vocal arsenal. Musically speaking, “Annabelle” has an outlaw Americana/Alt Rock sound with Joni Mitchell storytelling—a real breath of fresh air.

“When I started singing ‘Annabelle,’ I felt the themes of the song in my own life, of course,” shares Lenni. “In the final rise of the song, the roles that have been assigned to women for millennia are called out by name and by the end my voice bleeds into this guttural scream. When performing it, I feel an ancestry of pain.”

We couldn’t be more excited to have this incredible artist’s voice and message breaking on the horizon, and can’t wait for more to come.

Listen here: