HAPPY NEW YEAR! - Sum Up, Resolutions, Best Of 2013

I don't know why, but I'm really hyper right now and this is my last blog post in 2013 and unlike usual, I have quite some stuff to say!

2013 was the craziest and most chaotic year ever, I can't believe it's already basically over. I can surely say that music came out of nowhere and completely turned my life around. Of course it's been in my life ever since but in 2013 I developed a whole new connection to bands and lyrics and fans. I started to look at music from a completely different point of view and music might or might not have become the centre of my life. I created this blog in February and 99 posts and quite some clicks later, I work for an online magazine, I get to interview bands and I couldn't be happier about the direction my life is heading in.
2013 might have been weird at most points, but it gave me a whole lot of amazing moments. I saw 30 bands live, I had interviews with 6 of them, I met All Time Low and I attended my first festival ever. Music, or the people behind it, taught (and still teaches) me a lot about life and the attitude you could (or should) have towards it and I think these people helped me a lot to become the person I am today. 

Before this gets too emotional, I came up with some resolutions I probably won't stick to anyway but it became a tradition for me to think of some resolutions, if I stick to them or not. 

• read 100 books (I'll have to think of ways to afford this but yaay books!!)
• worry less, act more (this has been one of my resolutions for the past few years but I think I get better at it every year so I can't forget about it
• don't procrastinate that much (I am really good at procrastinating, sometimes I even procrastinate things I actually want to do and it needs to stop)
• write more (and when by saying that I mean reviews and stories and just everything that comes to my mind. Writing has been a big deal for me for a few years now and I just enjoy it but I never find the time to sit down for a while and just collect ideas)
• be more open-minded when meeting new people instead of directly judging them (sometimes I do this thing where I judge people from the sound of their voice, so if somebody has a voice that sounds unpleasant in my ears, I don't even talk to them and that's bullshit and I know it and I'll work on it!!)

Let's talk about this again in 12 months and see how far I got with these. What are your resolutions, if you have any? And if you don't, why not? Leave everything that comes to your mind in the comments! 

Last but not least I collected a list of my personal Best Of songs in 2013, so basically this is a collection of the songs I discovered this year and still listen to.

1. All Time Low - Time Bomb
2. All Time Low - Backseat Serenade
3. All Time Low - Me Without You
4. A Day To Remember - I Remember
5. Asking Alexandria - White Line Fever
6. Bastille - Things We Lost In The Fire
7. Biffy Clyro - Bubbles
8. Bring Me The Horizon - Sleepwalking
9. Bring Me The Horizon - Can You Feel My Heart
10. Fall Out Boy - Young Volcanoes
11. Of Mice & Men - Second & Sebring
12. Paramore - Still Into You
13. Pierce The Veil - Hold On Till May
14. Tonight Alive - Come Home
15. Tonight Alive - Hell And Back
16. We Are The In Crowd - Exits And Entrances
17. We Are The In Crowd feat. Alex Gaskarth - Kiss Me Again
18. We Came As Romans - Fade Away
19. We Came As Romans - I Am Free
20. You Me At Six - No One Does It Better
21. 30 Seconds To Mars - Do Or Die

What are your best of songs in 2013? Leave your list in the comments, I'm always happy to receive recommendations of new music!

I wish you all a happy, successful new year, let's close this chapter and open a new one! 

Go To Hell For Heaven's Sake - A Playlist

I'm in the best mood today *raising my sarcasm sign*, so I felt like doing a nice little playlist for everybody who pisses me off and who pisses my readers off. Let's kick some asses!

Bring Me The Horizon - Go To Hell, For Heaven's Sake

The title speaks for itself, I suppose; I chose this video because a) I couldn't find the album version and b) I was there and it was awesome. 

Bring Me The Horizon - Antivist

Middle fingers up, if you don't give a fuck!! Also this song contains so many swear words to scream that you'll immediately feel better. 

Bullet For My Valentine - Leech

Hey, leech, no longer will you suck my blood, you can't keep away, you need another taste.

Hey, leech, you think that you are here to stay, you can't keep away, you need another taste.

Memphis May Fire - Generation: Hate

This one is for our whole generation, especially for those who are so brave and cyber bully others. 

Of Mice & Men - I'm A Monster

Austin (or whoever wrote this song), is better with words than I am, so I'm just gonna quote again: "For every backstabbing lie and the whispers, I'll shove this down your throat!"

I can only recommend to sing/scream/yell along. 

Of Mice & Men - Ben Threw

Gather around children, I'd like to tell you a story. In my last year at secondary school, I had one friend. We were close, it was great, I really liked her, I thought she'd like me, too. I was pretty unstable around the time of final exams, I made it through somehow when suddenly this girl stopped talking to me. I tried talking to her but she always ran away until I called her and asked what her problem was. The reply I got was the following: "You're so depressed, I can't do this anymore."
Well, you know, good thing that you never walked a single mile in my shoes, so of course to you, my time at school didn't seem as horrible as I experienced it. That's okay though, fuck you. :-) 

Paramore - Anklebiters

When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Hayley comes to me, speaking words of wisdom: "Fall in love with yourself because someday you're gonna be the only one you've got."

It's sad enough that she's completely right with this. Sooner or later, everybody's gonna leave you, apparently that's how life works. 

Pierce The Veil feat. Kellin Quinn- King For A Day

So sick of playing, I don't want this anymore. The thought of you is no fucking fun, you want a martyr, I'll be one because enough's enough we're done!

Sleeping With Sirens - If You Can't Hang

It took me quite a long time to learn that you can't force people to stay. If they don't want to be your friend anymore, alright. If they want to go, let them go. In 99% of all cases you're better off without them and in a couple of years you'll look back and think "Thank God I got rid of that *insert whatever you like*"

Asking Alexandria - A Lesson Never Learned

Because no matter how many people I will meet in my life, I will always make the same mistakes and trust the wrong ones. 

Album Of The Week: Paramore - Paramore

With over 26 million likes on Facebook and over 2 million followers on twitter, Paramore belongs to the most popular pop punk bands our generation has to offer. I never really liked them; I thought they're okay and there must be something about them that makes people like them but I never understood. Well, then Rock am Ring came, Hayley Williams totally blew me away and literally the first thing I did when I came back home was buying this album. 

Paramore's self-titled album kicks off with a song called "Fast In My Car", a very catchy and promising start for the record itself.
Even if you don't know who this band is, you definitely know the song "Now" because they play it everywhere. Paramore has a rather troubled past and this song deals with it in an impatient way ("If there's a future, we want it now!").
The next few songs deal with topics like growing up and the effects it has on you, leaving people behind who aren't good for you anymore and it sounds a lot like Hayley is processing a relationship which didn't work out. Furthermore there's no way of denying what a great lyricist Hayley is, for example in Last Hope: "Every night I try my best to dream tomorrow makes it better and I wake up to the cold reality and not a thing is changed but it will happen."
My favourite song on the record has to be Still Into You. It sounds so unburdened and happy and when you take a closer look, that's exactly what it's about. "It's not a walk in the park to love each other but when our fingers interlock, can't deny, can't deny you're worth it cause after all this time, I'm still into you."
I'm just going to quote the next song, Anklebiters, here because it contains some very accurate life advice: "Fall in love with yourself because someday you're gonna be the only one you've got!"
These were the songs that made an impression on me right after listening to them for the first time, all in all this is a very successful album everybody should have in their CD collection. 

ROCK AM RING: Day One

Sup everyone, I'm back from four days of camping and three days of perfect music, hope you are excited to read what I have to say! I'll skip the two days before the festival because we arrived Wednesday night and spent Thursday killing time and getting a tan. 

Friday, June 7th, 12pm. We arrive at the festival venue, there are already quite a lot of people here waiting to get in. At 1pm the gates open, we get our bags checked and run to the Alternastage where we'll spend half of the day. We actually manage to get a place at the first row what turns out to be good for many reasons. Reason number one: We have the perfect view on the stage. Reason number two: We can clinge to the barricade when the crowd goes nuts so we don't end up being smashed in a pit. Reason number three: We can be pulled out of the crowd after A Day To Remember to go see Paramore. 

The first band we saw was called Love & Death, some really creepy guys. I think the bassist was high as a kite, he had this crazy look like he was insane and I don't know, creeps. I didn't really like their music either.
The Ghost Inside were up next and they were amazing. They played in Germany for the first time, it makes me really happy that I was a part of this. They only played for 30 minutes though and then the first band I wanted to see was up: Asking Alexandria.
First James came up on stage and let me tell you this: In real life he's even more stunning than on pictures. Same with Cameron that sexy motherfucker. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed in their performance as a whole because Danny's voice cracked often. However, the other guys did a fantastic job with their instruments and kind of compensated Danny's part.
There was a mosh pit opening right in front of me but I hid behind this tall guy because I didn't feel like being smashed on the first day and I'm scared of pits but shhh

One british band followed the other: Right after AA, Bring Me The Horizon played. I had seen some of their live performances on youtube but damn son, Oli is super aggressive as soon as he steps on stage. There was one pit after the other, he even tried to arrange a wall of death two times but there was always only a small amount of the crowd doing it. However, people in the back started to push forward and tried to make their way to the stage because Oli said so. To that I have to say: Fuck you Oli, it became really tight there in the front and I got pressed against the barricade so I couldn't move anymore. Anyway, I loved it. Screaming along to the bands you listen to 24/7, screaming your favourite songs with thousands of other people was fantastic. They played Sleepwalking what's my favourite song by them and if you say that Bring Me The Horizon suck live, you're wrong. 

I wasn't able to take pictures but luckily there are people getting paid for doing that. I took this one from SWR3, a german radio station. 

The last band we saw playing on the Alternastage on Friday, was A Day To Remember. I never really listened to them but apparently they're sick live, so I was actually looking forward to their performance. However, it got super crowded so I was busy staying on my feet and couldn't pay as much attention as I wanted to. I saw Adam Elmakias sneaking around and taking pictures though, for example this one: 

After ADTR, we let us pull out by the security guys because there was no other way out. PS: If you're one of those people who crowd surfs at a concert, you're an idiot and I don't like you. Seriously, if others in the crowd want to get hurt, they get into a pit and don't wait for you to push your foot into their faces. There are a million other ways of having fun at a concert. 

I'm done ranting, we moved to the Centerstage for the rest of the day. First Paramore were up, what I was quite excited for. I gave their music many tries and never found a connection but Hayley is so badass, I may fell in love with her a little. No seriously, I finally understand why so many people adore this band, they're sick live. The atmosphere was great, everybody just sang along and danced and had a great time. Also Hayley is one of the most beautiful women out there.

(pic taken from SWR3 again)

The next two artists were german rappers. First a guy called Cro and then a band called Fettes Brot. I don't really have to say much about them because it's not my kind of music and we were just there because we waited for 30 Seconds To Mars who were the main act on Friday. 

As you may or may not know, I already saw Mars two years ago on their huge tour and that was when I fell in love with them. It was unreal to see them again, to sing along to the old songs like Kings And Queens as well as the new songs like Up In The Air. Jared looks like Jesus, there was confetti, a firework and there were balloons and gymnasts who did some crazy things during the breaks. Jared's voice sounded incredible, their break was really good because he needed a rest after touring so long and now he sounds better than ever. It was so good to see them again after all that happened, it felt like coming home after a long journey. 

We saw the most bands on one day on Friday and went to sleep at 3.30am or something only to be woken up at 8am again on Saturday. I have to catch up on some sleep now and part two with Papa Roach, Biffy Clyro, Phoenix, Hurts and The Killers will hopefully come tomorrow!