trueAnthem's #1 (right now)

I had the opportunity to speak with David from Shaolin Temple of BooM who is currently leading the ranks in the trueAnthem competition. The music is good, I mean, like legit good. Be sure to download it after checking out this interview.



What's going on work wise for you right now?
I am heavily involved in this contest [WONKA's trueAnthem contest] from organizing my street teams to cross promotions with FiXTstore.com who let me borrow some of their artists for two brand new remixes of my songs(which are available as a FREE Download on my trueAnthem player as well as everything under the Shaolin Temple of BooM sun).

I run my own record label which is exclusive to SToB called Cherry Atom Pie Records, but looking at possible licensing deals for my songs. I'm also working on new music that goes back to my "Inside," "Into Nothing" roots. I've done some mellow tracks recently, but now it's time to explore the darker side of things once again.

Where can fans get updates on what you're working on right now and where you're touring?
Best spot is MySpace or my Web site which is it's own community where people can make profiles and interact in forums - like a mini-MySpace.


You're leading the the trueAnthem competition right now. Are you doing something to help get your word out?
We have an INCREDIBLE street team, we could NOT do it without them. Which include Gerardo Garcia , Jin, and others. It's amazing what they do for us, they keep us going.


What's your favorite thing about being a musician?
The opportunity to create music I want to hear.

If you weren't a musician what would you be?
An artist...I am a visual artist as well and I plan to go more deeply into that later on.

What's your favorite band or who inspires your music?
I hope you don't think this pretentious, but I love Beethoven (which we also love, David!), I can listen to his music for days on end. I also like Nine Inch Nails and Thom Yorke.


How did your band get started?
A Casio keyboard and a cheap knock off of a Les Paul guitar by some unknown brand name.


Single best song lyric?
The one yet to be written.


What's your favorite WONKA candy?
I like em all, hard to choose on that one (ohhhhh, I totally understand...I'm debating between Kazoozles and SweeTarts riggghhhhhhttt now).

And, here's some just for fun!

Favorite food? Hard to choose between sushi and lasagna

Favorite cereal? Fruit Loops

Biggest irrational fear? I have an irrational fear of having a biggest
irrational fear (Me, too, David, me too).

Favorite cartoon character? Afro Samurai on Spike

Favorite TV show/movie? I don't watch TV to be honest I really have no
time I do watch movies via that invention called the DVD. Favorite movie....hmmm
can't pick just one...it's a toss up between "Cast Away", "Unforgiven" and
"Copying Beethoven".


It was wonderful speaking with David, and if you'd like to learn more about him or his band you can find them be sure to check out their MySpace.

Ryan Huston...trueAnthem's trueAwesome!

The trueAnthem contest continues onward! We had a great opportunity to speak with one of the artists, Ryan Huston, who is part of the contest. Admittedly after speaking with him, I downloaded his entire album and have been listening to it on repeat since. It's REALLY good. Anyway, here's what he had to say:

What's going on career-wise for you right now?
I'm working on my third studio album, and I just finished a book. The first part of the book is based on experiences and how I got to where I am, and the second part is a how-to, “How To Become a Rockstar from Home.” It was cool to put together. You can check it out in eBook form on RyanHuston.com or on my MySpace page.

Where can fans get updates on what you're working on right now?
The easiest place for them to go is to my MySpace page. I update it all myself! You can also track me down on Facebook.

What's your favorite part about being a musician?
For me it's being able to create music and share a unique art form of expressing yourself. Every time I work on something it produces something special and unique.

If you weren't a musician what would you be?
Graphic designer. I do all the artwork and photographs for the Web pages. It's a lot of fun.

What's your favorite band or who inspires your music?
Foo Fighters, Jimmy Eat World, Coldplay, Radiohead

How did you get started with music?
When I was 12 I was walking home from school and found an old guitar that someone had left by their trash. I picked up the guitar and took it to a music shop to have it restrung. Over the next few years I taught myself how to play and write songs on that guitar. I think that's where my passion came from. That old guitar. At some point though, I decided to pursue music more seriously and enrolled in college classes like music theory, composition history, as well as piano and sight reading. The intellectual insight and knowledge of composition has helped the depth of my music, I think.

Single best song lyric?
Like I said, I love Radiohead. I really like the lyric “because we separate it ripples our reflection.” There is a whole lot of emotion that comes from a lyric like that. I connect with it a lot.

What's your favorite WONKA candy?
SweeTarts. Definitely. I love them.

What's been good about being a trueAnthem band?
I've been able to get out my music in a way that wasn't possible before. Distributing music and being able to share a part of me and have fans connect back and tell me how much they love it -- that just reinforces that I'm doing the right thing. I've been fortunate to get a lot of downloads because of WONKA and trueAnthem's support.


Okay, so Ryan, here are a few bits just for fun...:
Favorite food? Chinese food. Any and all kinds, it's just delicious.

Favorite cereal? Cookie Crisp. What better way to start your morning off than with a big bowl of cookies. And then you poor the milk right on there. That's innovation.

Favorite TV show/movie? Nitro Circus on MTV, if you haven't seen it, check it out.

Well, there you have it, all. Ryan Huston! Be sure to log into trueAnthem and vote...and download his album. It ROCKS.

Go for the Gold (Card)! Show us how you Kazoozle!

WONKA’s newest candy, Kazoozles, shipped out from WONKA’s Candy Factory to retailers nationwide Monday (June 8) which is basically the greatest news ever, at least in our opinion. Now you’ll be able to get as many Kazoozles as you want! Ahh, so good! But here’s the best part: Eating Kazoozles could help you score an exclusive Gold Card membership.

“Whhhatttttt?!,” you say? It’s true. Gold could be yours. Here’s the deal:

Take photos of yourself posing, eating, creating a fine work of art (out of the chewy awesome candy of glory) or sharing Kazoozles – whatever it is you do. Use the wrapper, use the candy, and use your mad skillz. I, personally, am a fan of creating the Kazoozles bracelet. Tastes better than any candy necklace ever has and teeth marks from bites I take out of them add a sense of style, right? Right.

Anyway, so take your pictures and load them up to our Facebook fan page and/or your MySpace (and tag yourself and us), or twitpic you photo to @WONKAnation (and be sure to hashtag your pics with #Kazoozles). We’ll take twitpics and load them up to our fan page so everyone can check them out and let us know what they think.

Be creative. Do something totally WONKA. The more creative you are, the greater your chance is to score six months access to WONKA’s candy closet (via the Gold Card). Since Kazoozles are so tasty, we ask that you keep your pictures in good taste. Anything in bad taste will be pulled from our pages and you’ll be out of the running for Gold, and why would you want to risk losing something so sweet!?

We want to give everyone a chance to find Kazoozles in their local retailers, so well be giving away Gold Cards up until August 31 for the quirkiest and coolest Kazoozles pics. You’re not limited to one photograph, snap as many as you’d like (that’s giving you an entire summer full of great pictures!), check out images from other WONKA and Kazoozles lovers to get some creative inspiration. This is one giveaway you definitely don’t want to miss.

Can’t wait to see what you got. Now get out there and show us how YOU Kazoozle!

trueAnthem contest continues...Hurry Let's Go...no wait, stay, that's the name of the band

Well the trueAnthem contest continues on with your chance to vote for your favorite bands, listen and download some incredible music. We were lucky enough to speak with some of the bands that are participating like Hurry Let's Go.

Today I spoke with Alan from Hurry Let’s Go, who along with band mate Robbie, is leading the competition.

*What's going on career-wise for you right now?
Currently I'm a student at Florida State University (graduating in May 2010) majoring in Marketing. I love what I'm doing with my music, but having the tools to understand the marketing side I think has been really useful throughout this contest. Both Robbie and I are working really hard to spread our music. This contest has really helped us do just that!

*What's your favorite thing about being a musician?
When I’m not having a very good day, I just sit down and make an instrumental melody on my computer and write music to it – it helps calm me down. After finishing up the songs I realized that it also makes others happy and that makes me happy, making people happy and creating music. That's what keeps me making music!


*If you weren't a musician what would you be?
I'd be doing something in marketing, well after I get my degree! But dream wise? Swimming has always been a passion though. I used to be really hardcore and got carried away with the band. But how cool would it be to be in the Olympics and swim with the big dogs like Michael Phelps.

*What's your favorite band or who inspires your music?
Linkin Park, Blink 182 and Underoath I've been into for a long time. PlayRadioPlay is a more recent inspiration of what we're doing now.

How did your band get started?
Summer of 2006 right before I started college. I was hanging out with friend Robbie, and we both are military brats and entertained ourselves for a long time by creating hip hop songs and R & B. We then started getting more into rock music because we wanted to do something that didn’t involve instruments – something more computer based (like PlayRadioPlay or the Postal Service). So we created our first song “Happily Ever After” (which will have a new version on their upcoming album) and haven't looked back since!

Single best song lyric? “Madi don’t leave” by PlayRadioPlay - the lyrics are incredible. It doesn’t sound like it make a great song, but you put the emotion behind it and its really incredible.

Where can fans get updates on what you're working on right now?

Well I can tell you, we're working on our third album right now and MySpace.com/HurryLetsGo (10 or 11 track album should be released this fall. We will have our new songs and migh have limited time offer free music downloads. But, right now we have 18 songs available for download through trueAnthem, some are exclusive to trueAntehm, like our instrumental sets which you can't find on iTunes. So go download them now!

What's your favorite WONKA candy?
Nerds – Strawberry/Grape flavored. I remember being 7 and getting the small boxes for Halloween and I’d devour them before anything else.

And just for fun:
•Favorite food?
Spanish tortilla (his mom is from Spain) – it’s a pie with potato, eggs and onion
Favorite cereal?
Frosted Flakes
Biggest irrational fear?
Losing a tooth – I have always loved my smile and I’d rather not get any of them mixing. Also I walk barefoot a lot so I’m always afraid of stepping on glass.
Favorite cartoon character?
Homer Simpson
Favorite TV show/Movie?
That 70s Show. Yes I know it's old, but I still watch it all the time, and my favorite movie? I'm torn between Borat and Transformers. Both are great.

Final thoughts?
Robbie went to NJ for awhile to try something new, and he wasn’t in it when the trueAnthem contest started which I was nervous about. But now he’s back and helping with the promotion and the music. It’s great to have, he really is a major part of the music and the band and I’m so grateful to work with him.

Also, I want to thank trueAnthem and WONKA for getting this going and great job to all the other bands that are in the contest. I’ve been able to meet a lot of great bands through the contest and I’ve been able to get a lot of free music through the contest and listening to bands I never have before like Breathe Carolina, Teen Hearts and Cary Judd.

Stay tuned in for tomorrow's band interview...we're talking with the competition...Shaolin Temple of BooM!

MTV Movie Awards Gift Lounge = AWESOME

I imagine you're all anxiously awaiting the recap from the MTV Movie Awards -- who we saw, who received a Gold/Purple Card and what's everyone's favorite candy. Fear not, we got it all...pictures, video, and lots of good times.

The gift lounge kicked off on Thursday with the Twilight cast. We were so excited to see Peter (Dr. Carlisle Cullen) and he was happy to stop by for a quick video to his fans. Check it out:



Co-star Billy Burke (Charlie Swan) also sent out a message to fans from the gift lounge:




After our quick chat, Billy picked up a Purple Card (which will allow him a year access to WONKA's candy closet) to share with his wife.



Woot!

We were also excited to see Chet Cannon from Real World Brooklyn stop by. Never have we laughed so hard! Check this video out:



What was really cool about Chet is we know a lot of the same people! He tours with bands as well, so he's friends with FTSK, Hey Monday, We The Kings, The CAB -- he knows them all! Hopefully we'll be seeing him again along the way!

If you'd like to check out more pictures/video from the lounge (which, be warned, there are lots of awesomeness to be viewed) please stop by Whrrl or Facebook or our MySpace.

Stay tuned for more awesomeness -- we're giving away 7 Gold Cards on Twitter and we'll be telling you all about it!