Last weekend, X103.9 crowned Phoenix-based rock band Halocene winner of the Fall Frenzy Showdown at the Marquee Theatre. That means that Friday, September 30, the band will join Matt & Kim, Jimmy Eat World, and blink-182 at Tempe Beach Park for Arizona Fall Frenzy.
The young band just released a brand new album, Can You Hear Us Now. Up on the Sun spoke with singer Addie Nicole about winning the competition, playing with blink-182, and the new album.
Up on the Sun: Addie, tell me a little about your new album.
Addie Nicole: We just released a new full length CD, Can You Hear Us Now. It's locally released, and the digital release will be this Friday, when we play the [Fall Frenzy] show.
It it going to be available at stores around town?
No, we don't' have it in any stores right now, just digitally and we have our merch store online.
So this is your guys' first full length?
We put out the Secret in 2009, a six song EP, so this is the first full length.
How does this compare to the first EP?
I think a lot of people say it's more mature. I don't really think it's more mature [laughs]. But we took a lot of time. We took time with the first one, but we didn't even start playing as a band until after put out that CD. So, the first one was the first songs we came up with and just put it out,and they were catchy and awesome and stuff, but this time we got to actually choose which songs we thought were best, and really make it the way we wanted to.
So you guys first recorded the songs from the EP and then started playing live?
The second day I met them we went straight into the studio and started recording. We didn't play our first show until six months after knowing each other.
So this time you got to try out the songs live before recording.
The only one we've played for awhile is "Toxic." That one had been around for awhile. We recorded it back in November, and we had been playing it for a year already, and the kids really liked it. We kind of went in that direction for the whole CD [just] took that direction and ran with it.
I assume you guys are excited to play with blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World.
You have no idea. I think we all grew up listing to those bands. All of us were first inspired to play with blink-182.
How old are you if you don't mind me asking?
I'm 20. Blink came out I was really young. When I first started getting into them, they had already broken up. I think I got into them the month they broke up. I came to school with a "rest in peace" blink-182 shirt.
You won the X103.9 Fall Frenzy Showdown. What did you do to set yourself a part from the other bands?
Well, we paid attention to what the judges were [looking for]. We were like, 'Okay, what can we do to really stand out?' We have some friends who breakdance, and we called them out, and said, 'For our last song, would you mind doing a little breakdown-thing?' That song is called "Rumble," and it's about fighting, so I put on my referee outfit and made it a battle. There's also a song were we cut out -- and I don't know if you know that "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO-- but we all threw on Afros and started doing the shuffle. Aside from just our comedic antics, we threw some crazy stuff in there to be over the top.
Who are some of your favorite local bands?
All the bands we played with that night were great. Fayuca, we've played with, they are really talented. We Were Strangers, I was talking with their singer for a really long time, and she's super awesome. We've played with Hey, Girl, Hey, My Girl Friday, Season Premiere, all those guys are really awesome, too.
Halocene, Matt & Kim, Jimmy Eat World, and blink-182 are scheduled to play Friday, September 30, at Tempe Beach Park.
