Artist of the Week: Brandon Flowers

by: Carlos Figueroa
Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is the American frontman, vocalist, and keyboardist of the Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers.

Brandon Flowers, after dropping out of college, was a bellhop for a short while at the Gold Coast Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. In 2001 he was abandoned by the first band that he was in, a synth pop band known as Blush Response, after he declined to move with the rest of them toLos Angeles, California. Shortly thereafter, Flowers attended an Oasis concert, and realizing that he wanted to make the transition from a keyboard band to a true rock band, began searching for a guitarist. He responded to an ad that Dave Keuning had placed in the paper that listed, among other bands, The Cure and Oasis as influences. Keuning later stated that his first impression of Flowers was that he was wearing the same shoes Oasis had. After several short-lived bassists and drummers, Flowers and Keuning were joined by bassist Mark Stoermer and drummer Ronnie Vannucci and became the Killers in August 2002. Vannucci later said that, even with songs like "little dwarf versions of what we have now, Brandon wasn't afraid to just get up there and just do it. You need that when you're trying to get something off the ground. As far as the drive goes, Brandon was never half-assed." According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, his parents have always supported his decision to become a rock singer, and were often the only people in the audience at The Killers' early performances.

Flowers has been in a number of controversies based on comments he has made to the media. In particular, he made statements that sparked feuds with the bands Fall Out Boy, The Bravery and Panic At the Disco. However, he has since recanted, and told Spin magazine, "I'd like to take it all back. These people are just doing what they want to do, just like I am. I'm actually a nice person and I love people. I just am opinionated. It's not something I'm proud of." Flowers criticized Green Day for performing the song "American Idiot" in the United Kingdom. The concert, featured in Green Day's live DVD Bullet in a Bible, shows thousands of Europeans singing along to "American Idiot". Flowers said, "I just thought it was really cheap. To go to a place like England or Germany and sing that song—those kids aren't taking it the same way that he meant it." His assertion that Sam's Town would be one of the best albums to come out in the preceding 20 years drew ridicule from critics. Flowers has expressed his desire to be less provocative. He told The Advocate magazine, "With people that I've put down, I understand now that they have their own ability and a gift for doing whatever they're doing."

Flowers appeared as an interviewee on the Pet Shop Boys: A Life in Pop DVD, and subsequently also presented the artists with an Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the 2009 BRIT Awards. He and Lady Gaga then performed with Pet Shop Boys as part of a medley of their hits.

While Flowers is usually confined to singing, or even playing keyboard on most of the Killers' songs, Flowers plays bass in the song For Reasons Unknown, the 4th single from the Sam's Town album.

*By the way, the poll for who will be Artist of the Month for March  is already up and will be closed until March 5 (to give people some time to vote... although I doubt we'll get as much votes this time, because of the holidays). Tomorrow we will have the rest of the Artist of the Month sections for March and Wednesday will be for the Indiespensables and Essentials to catch up. 
     P.S. I still wonder where David is...

GOSH!! FINALLY!!

I really missed our beloved Feel Good Inc., and I must really issue my greatest apologies for not updating in the last week. It's not that I forgot the FGI, but we have just finished our quarter exams, so I have to start thinking about whom am I gonna have to write all the stuff I haven't written. Luckily, I've got a whole week of vacations (which means FGI 24/7). Thank the Lord!!

By the way, I wonder where David is? Haven't seen him around lately in the Nation...

Keep on rocking,
-- Carlos

Indiespensables: Silversun Pickups

by: Carlos Figueroa

Silversun Pickups is an indie rock band from Los Angeles, California, comprising Brian Aubert (lead vocals, guitar), Nikki Monninger (bass, vocals), Christopher Guanlao (drums) and Joe Lester (keyboards).

The band released their debut EP, Pikul, in July 2005, and their debut full-length album, Carnavas, on July 26, 2006. Their second full length album, Swoon, was released on April 14, 2009. The band's sound, often encompassing multiple overdubs of distorted guitars, is frequently compared to that of The Smashing Pumpkins, while the band members have said they are heavily influenced by artists such as My Bloody Valentine, the Velvet Underground, Elliott Smith, Sonic Youth, Sweet, Modest Mouse, and Secret Machines as well as numerous other artists with lesser publicity.

The band's debut album, Carnavas, is a solid performance and introduces us to the Pickups's characteristic style: distorted guitars, marked drumbeats, and Aubert's unmistakable vocals. The album has quite a bunch of good songs, with songs like "Lazy Eye", "Little Lover's So Polite", Future Foe Scenarios", and "Well Thought Out Twinkles" being in the spotlight. Most of this songs are similar in that they deliver distorted guitars and peculiar vocals, but out of this songs "Lazy Eye" would be the strongest one for me, as it has an amazing and addicting beat and a great guitar riff throught most of the song. The song "Well Thought Out Twinkles" stands out a bit as it delivers a purer guitar sound and loud drum beats, while "Little Lover's So Polite" shines through because of its eerie sound (mainly because of the distorted guitars).

The band's second album, Swoon, contains great songs such as "Panic Switch", "Substitution", and their latest single, "The Royal We". "Panic Switch" is probably the album's highlight with amazing vocals and the usual guitar and drums sound that characterizes the band. "Substitution" is a bit more of an upbeat song, with a somewhat lighter, happier sound, mixed with the usual vocals that make the band so peculiar.

Silversun Pickups is a band that shines in the dark because of its characteristic sound and vocals, and apparently the band is growing fast and adapting fast to the industry, without becoming a fame monster; because of this, Silversun Pickups are indiespensable.

By the way, I would like to apologize with y'all because I haven't been posting lately, and really, there's no excuse; it is my duty (with David obviously) to keep the FGI Nation rocking, so I'll try to keep it a bit more updated. Also I would like to announce that for this week the Artists of the Week (3 actually, as this is the 3rd week of March already) and The Essentials (Oasis's to be specific) will finally be posted. My apologies again and don't forget to keep on rocking!

Recommendations: March 7

By David Urtecho

This past week Carlos and I have had a lot work, so we didn’t have the time to dedicate for our beloved FGI Nation. But we will compensate it this week. So for this week’s recommendations we bring a whole new level of bands, since all the Feel Good Inc.’s recommendation are from great 90’s bands that mark a generation, more known as the Generation X. So for this 90’s recommendations we have bands as Stone Temple Pilots, Sound Garden, Radiohead, Pearl Jam and Nirvana.

Starting with Scott Weiland and company, Stone Temple Pilots offer us massive tracks on their 1^st album Core. Coming out of it “Creep” falls out as the 3^rd single, often confuse and diminish by Radiohead’s Creep.

From Sound Garden’s 4^th studio album Superunknown, the song “Black Hole Sun” that took Chris Cornell 15 minutes to write it, became their most popular song to date.

Radiohead has manage to become one of the greatest bands ever, with albums as OK Computer, The Bends, Pablo’s Honey, Kid A, well actually every Radiohead album has a different sound and each one experiments new stuff. So one song really catch my attention when I first listen to The Bends was “High and Dry”.

Well one Eddie Vedder was reading an article on a newspaper about a boy named Jeremy Wade Delle who shot himself in front of his English class on January 8, 1991. As a reaction this was a motive for Eddie to write “Jeremy” for Pearl Jam’s album Ten.

Nirvana brings the anthem for apathetic kids of the Generation X. “Smells Like Teen Spirit” actually talks by itself. You be the judge.

Well these are just some of the bands that rocked the 90’s. We hoped you liked them as we do. As usual feel free to comment. And always remember to Feel Good Inc.

And for this week bonus we have Placebo with its song “Nancy Boys”.

Top 10: Metallica

By David Urtecho
The greatest band of metal in history, Metallica, is coming to Central America this week to Costa Rica (March 7) and Guatemala (March 5), and as usual they are not coming to our beloved country, Honduras. So we know that here in the Feel Good Inc. Blog you guys are big Metallica fans as we are, so we are bringing you the FGI Top 10 Metallica for this occasion.
1. Enter Sandman
2. Cyanide
3. Master of Puppets
4. Sad But True
5. One
6. Whenever I may Roam
7. No Leaf Clover
8. The Unforgiven
9. The Day That Never Comes
10. The Unforgiven III

Well as usual hope you like it and feel free to comment and gives us your Metallicas Top 10 or favorite songs. Any recommendations you would like to see on the Top 10 soon.
Well subscribe to the blog.
“She loves me not, she loves me still, but she'll never love again”
Metallica, The Unforgiven II

The Essentials: The Killers

by: Carlos Figueroa

The Killers are an alternative rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2002. The band consists of Brandon Flowers (vocals, keyboards), Dave Keuning (guitar, vocals), Mark Stoermer (bass guitar, vocals) and Ronnie Vannucci Jr. (drums, percussion). They have released 3 studio albums: Hot Fuss (2004), Sam's Town (2006), and Day & Age (2008).

The Killers is one of my favorite bands, maybe because of the quality of their songs, or the overall stage captivation Brandon gives me, but, without discussion, The Killers are one of the greatest bands out there at the moment.

Now, let me be clear, I'll focus on the MOST ESSENTIAL out of The Killers (if not I will probably fill the whole blog with a single post). So, let's begin with the beginning, Hot Fuss, the band's first album, contains my favorite song from The Killers; it is probably most people's favorite. I'm obviously talking about "Mr. Brightside". The song is unmistakable and is probably the most iconic song for this band; with its superb keyboard riff and its amazing vocoder vocals throughout most of the song, the song is perfection.

This doesn't mean that it is the only good song in the album, on the contrary, the album is packed with amazing songs, like "Smile like you mean it", "Somebody Told Me", "All These Things that I've Done", and "Jenny was a Friend of Mine".

Now, the second album, Sam's Town, I must say is a good album, but I personally don't find as great as the first and last albums. Now, don't take me wrong when I say it is not as great, that simply means the other 2 albums are a 10 each and these one is a 9... Now, my favorite song from this album is "When You Where Young", which I find extremely appealing (mainly because of the guitar riffs and the vocals). Other songs from the album that deserve to be spotlighted are "Read my Mind", "Bones", and "For Reasons Unknown".

Last, and definitively not least, my favorite of the band's albums, Day & Age. Now, I will focus on the best songs in this album: "Human", "Spaceman", "A Dustland Fairytale", and "The World That We Live In". To start of, "Human", is one of the most solid performances from the band, as it is the whole package (rhythm, guitar riffs, and vocals/lyrics). "Spaceman", I personally believe excels vocally, but lacks a little bit in the other departments. "A Dustland Fairytale" is, for me, a perfect ballad, being expressive and emotional, yet not compromising musical performance for on-stage performance. "The World That We Live In" is one of the albums most strong songs, being very unique, with its vocoder vocals (which are reminiscent of "Mr. Brightside"), marked beats, and beautiful guitar riffs.

The Killers will always be an awesome band and will always provide us with amazing music, because of their amazing career and songs, The Killers are an essential.