We want to thank you all for your support of The Modern Elite over the past year and a half. We put a ton of hard work into creating a beautiful album that we are still very proud of. We had some awesome fans who came to nearly every show, we made new friends and fans from playing out and we shared the stage with some amazing acts. We loved every interview, acoustic set and rock show that we were lucky enough to do and we greatly appreciate you being there to listen to us.

Now, even though TME is done, we all plan to continue playing music. I am still fronting The Wrecking Coast and Tommy and Trevor are working on putting a project together as well. We enoucrage you to add us on Facebook or Twitter to stay updated with our new bands!

Thank you again for your love and dedication to our music. We’ll never forget it

♥ Rebecca

We are gaining more and more fans everyday, but we have felt very constrained and unable to really get out, promote and play. In the past months, it became clear that not everyone in the band was as invested as the others. For these reasons, we have decided to let Justin and Clark go.

We know this is probably a big shock to everyone and it was not an easy decision to make. We have been through so many lineup changes and the last thing we want to be doing is replacing people again, but we know that this is the best way to make TME bigger and better than ever before. With our new lineup, we will be able to go full-force with promotion, booking (a summer tour is in the works) and getting new fans. Ultimately, this will be a much better situation for everyone…especially our fans. Justin and Clark are both talented and ambitious people, and we know they will do great things in the future.

We are beginning to audition for one permanent lead guitarist and one permanent drummer. If you or someone you know are interested and would like to audition, please send an e-mail to themodernelite@gmail.com.

We must also mention that our album Blind is now available for purchase on iTunes. You can preview and purchase the album by clicking here. Be sure to leave us a nice review if you have an iTunes account!

Awesome things are coming.We hope you’re as excited as we are.

Thank you all for your endless support!

-Rebecca, Trevor and Tommy

Our cover of Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” has been getting tons of plays all over the web. In less than 24 hours, it’s gotten over 300 plays and views!

You can watch our “Bad Romance” video mash-up below, or download the song by clicking here.

Be sure to send it to your friends!

-Rebecca & Trevor

First of all- a huge thanks to everyone who came out to our CD release party yesterday! We had a great turnout, even on a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon and got the chance to make some new friends and fans. We had an awesome time playing for everyone and were very lucky to share the stage with Stay, Nemes, Letterday, Socratic and our friend Andrew Morse from Await Rescue, who joined us on stage for “Nowhere to Go.” All of the bands were so nice and they all played fantastic sets. Please check them out if you don’t know them already!

If you couldn’t make it out to the show, we’ve got you covered. Our wonderful merch girl Stephanie filmed our entire set minus one song, and you can stream it all in order by clicking here. We will also have pictures up soon!

So, the album is now officially out! We’ll be getting it up on iTunes as soon as possible and will let you all know when it’s available for purchase.

Tomorrow, we have our online interview with Forever the Sickest Kids on The New Music Inferno. We’ll also be on Stickam so you can watch us on your computer during the show! Afterwards, we’ll be posting a brand new acoustic cover video, so stay tuned to our Twitter and Facebook or that.

Lastly, Rebecca’s interview with AbsolutePunk.net has been posted to the site. Go check it out and be sure to comment and tell other readers to listen to us!

Thank you all for your support. Enjoy Blind!

-TME

Check out the exclusive album stream here! Don’t forget to tell all your friends to check it out too!!

We’re also running a one-day-only promotion for our CD release party with Socratic, Letterday, Nemes and Stay next weekend. Buy tickets to the party today and write your Ticketmaster confirmation code on this blog or our Facebook page and you’ll get a free copy of Blind!

We’d love to hear what you think about the album, so leave us comments!

♥ Rebecca & TME

Here’s our album cover:

And here is the official tracklisting for Blind:

1. Blind: Part I

2. Come Around

3. It’s Okay

4. Obsession

5. When You Wake

6. Hold On

7. I’ll Still Sing

8. Away From Here

9. Remember

10. Bleed

11. Nowhere to Go

12. The Unknown

13. Blind: Part II

There’s also more artwork on the back cover and inside of the booklet, but you’ll have to wait until the party to see it! We hope you guys are excited as we are to have the finished copy.

If you haven’t bought tickets to the show already, there are still some left. When you’ve got them, don’t forget to enter our Starbucks contest!

♥ TME

So, as a reward for buying a ticket to our CD release party with Socratic, Letterday, Nemes and Stay, you’ll have a shot at winning a $25 Starbucks card!

All you have to do is buy a ticket and then post a comment to us, either on this blog or on our Facebook page, with your Ticketmaster confirmation number. If you buy more than one ticket, it will increase your chances of winning. We’ll select a random winner and present the card at the show. We love our fans, so we’ll also give out some other treats…just make sure you buy those tickets and comment us!

Stay warm! The album is on it’s way…

We’ll see you one month from TODAY!
♥ The Modern Elite

Now I’m going to talk about my influences for vocal stylings and lyrics. I keep a pen and paper with me at all times because lines just pop into my head throughout the day. I keep a blank TextEdit file on my Mac that is filled with these lines, as well as passages from books that inspire me, notes and lyrics from other artists. A lot of times, I will even end up quoting these other artists in my songs (“this ink will grant me my revenge” is a reference to the Juliet Simms song “Black Ink Revenge;” “they say obsession never lasts” is a response to Bayside’s “don’t confuse neediness for love, because obsession never lasts” from the song “Carry On”). As Trevor mentioned, this blog will inevitably show the sharp contrast between our tastes, which has ultimately become our strongest feature as a band. So here they are, my top five influences for Blind:

Schoolyard Heroes- The fierceness of Ryann Donnelly’s vocals are unmatched. She can sing soft and sultry and then switch on a dime to shrill opera or screaming, without losing an ounce of her power. Ryann and the rest of the Heroes are inspired by horror movies, so her words tend to center around death, zombies, dismemberment and a lot of blood and guts. While I don’t write about these things, I try to channel Ryann every now and then, both on stage (where do you think the dress and Converse sneakers idea came from?) and in my words and vocal stylings. The most obvious Ryann influence are in the songs “Come Around” (which I re-wrote with Ryann in mind) and “Nowhere to Go,” where I have darker lyrics and a chorus of my own “ah”s singing behind me in the bridge.

Automatic Loveletter- Automatic Loveletter is the newest addition to my list of favorite bands. While I really didn’t like them the first time I heard them (which was live, opening for Secondhand Serenade), something about  Juliet Simms’ acoustic performance of “Makeup Smeared Eyes” struck me and I downloaded it when I got home. I was instantly hooked. Juliet’s voice is so different from everyone else’s and I love that she’s not afraid of hitting some less-than-pretty notes. Her raspy tone brings emotion to her already incredible lyrics, which, like mine, center mostly around destroyed relationships. Juliet works a lot with internal rhyming (like “pictures inspire and songs never tire” in the song “Parker”), which is something I picked up, like in the verses of “Bleed” (“the light fades now, as you allow/ the night to die with no reply”). Vocally, Juliet taught me to be less afraid of using scoops and writing higher melodies.

My Chemical Romance- Like Schoolyard Heroes, My Chemical Romance is a very theatrical, over-the-top band. Their first two albums, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love and Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, are absolutely loaded with metaphors involving murder, vampires, ghosts and, of course, violence and revenge. Gerard Way’s dark and powerful lyrics are complemented perfectly by his shrieking and growling vocals. The most obvious MCR influences come through with the beginning scream and references to bats, murder scenes and sharpened teeth on “Nowhere to Go,” as well as the hospital scene in “Away from Here.”

Emery- Emery is one of the most underrated bands around today. They are extremely versatile and unafraid to experiment with different sounds, which is something I greatly respect. This band truly shines with their vocals and lyrics, however. The three vocalists, singers Toby Morrell and Devin Shelton and screamer Josh Head create complex and melodic parts that bring a new dimension to their post-hardcore rock. I especially love when Toby and Devin sing different melodies and different lyrics at the same time. I don’t think I borrowed anything directly from Emery’s lyrics, but it’s bands like them that make me re-write songs two or three times before I’m satisfied…they just set the bar that high.

Taking Back Sunday- TBS’ “Tell All Your Friends” is a staple for any pop punk fan. The lyrics are full of biting, hateful (yet incredibly clever and quotable) lines. This is another band that has set the bar high for lyrical content and Adam Lazzara’s vocals are youthful yet powerful and truly bring life to the words.

I hope you guys will enjoy the vocals and lyrics on this album…and I strongly suggest that you check out all the bands I listed (click on their name to go to their MySpace!). Feel free to comment with any questions about the writing process, we’d love to talk more about it!

♥ Rebecca

Foo Fighters- In my opinion, the Foo Fighters are pretty much the center of modern rock. On top of releasing six major albums and winning a slew of Grammys, I feel like they are one of those bands that has influenced almost every new band out there, even if they don’t realize it. At first, they did sound like the expected off-shoot of Nirvana, but over time, they developed their own voice, and took that grunge sound in a more refined, poppy direction. They were the first band that I really got into that wasn’t loud for the sake of being loud; they taught me that the melody is what is most important. Even since I heard “There Is Nothing Left To Lose” in 1999, they have been one of my favorite bands…so it makes sense that they’d be a big influence on my writing.

Stone Temple Pilots- Very possibly my favorite band. When I was a little kid, I used to wake up on Saturday mornings to my dad blasting “Core” throughout the house. The songs themselves are all great, but the big influence comes from my favorite guitarist: Dean DeLeo. His playing is very unique, and a lot of times, the sounds he uses are as much of what makes it good as the notes. I used a lot of STPesque sounds and jangly chords on the album, most notably in the song “Obsession”, as well as some very DeLeo inspired parts laid in from time to time, like the second guitar part in the bridge of “Bleed”.

Led Zeppelin- There would be no Stone Temple Pilots (or most rock bands after 1969) without Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page is a guitar god, as well as arguably the greatest producer of all time. His playing, his guitar tones, and everything he ever did in the studio influenced this album both directly and indirectly. But it was more than Page; Zeppelin is about as good of a band as there has ever been. They may not have been the tightest, most precise band in history, but they had a groove that only those four could have created. They also taught me that you didn’t need to be loud and fast to be heavy. It was about attitude. It was a discussion of the song “Achilles Last Stand” before the practice we first played “Hold On” that turned it into one of our favorite songs on this album, even though we didn’t notice the influence for a few weeks after that.

Muse- I liked Muse when I heard “Time Is Running Out” and “Hysteria”, but I didn’t realize they were really something special until I heard “Supermassive Black Hole” in 2006. The video for “Knights of Cydonia” really pushed them over the edge as one of my favorite bands, and later that year I was astounded when I saw them live at Madison Square Garden. They are able to be so big, and so epic while not losing the drive and aggression of the three-piece rock band that they are. Matt Bellamy is one of the only truly great musicians out there today. He takes inspiration from Tom Morello and Jimi Hendrix, then combines it with the grandness of Queen and the complexity and finesse of Rush without losing the edge. Without Muse, I’m not sure if we would have been willing to push songs like “Blind” as far as we did. The Muse-inspired “Hold On” also helped us break out of the 4-chord pop rock templates we were working in before and push the envelope a little more.

Billy Talent-One of the few artists that Rebecca and I both listen to. I saw them at the World Ski and Snowboard Festival at Whistler in 2003, and really thought nothing of the two-song demo I was handed. I liked those two songs (“Living in the Shadows” and “Prisoners of Today”), but never went on to listen to the band beyond that. When I went to orientation at Northeastern, someone from the campus radio station gave me a copy of Billy Talent II and I was hooked as soon as I turned on “Devil in a Midnight Mass”. There is some pretty clear Billy Talent influence in certain songs (and of course their two vocalists), but in general I think we were trying to go for their type of clean, yet heavy power. And I’m sure I’ll only hear more Billy Talent come through as I hear the finished version of our album, because while recording, I was listening to them more than anyone else.

There are certainly other major influences (The Beatles, Queens of the Stone Age, The Hives etc.), but none had quite the same impact. I think we’ve done a good job at blending the old and the new, and I hope that you guys like what we put out there!

This song has really come a long way. It was not one of the original songs we wrote in the first round of songwriting; I believe it was written somewhere in the “middle” writing phase, around the same time as “Hold On” and “Remember.” We played it at a few of our shows, but after we wrote the four newest songs, it was removed from the set.

We did decide to record it for the album, though I’m sure I probably wasn’t crazy about the idea. This song was just never one of my favorites, and I was never satisfied with the lyrics I’d written for it. This resulted in me re-writing them at least three times…and I still wasn’t satisfied. I knew that I wanted the song to be “angry and empowering,” like “Come Around” and “It’s Okay,” but I wasn’t really sure who it should be about.

Then I realized that something else I was mad about besides certain relationships, was the amount of hate directed at the straight edge community. It’s true, there is also some hate from people who are straight edge to people who choose not to be. But from my experience, straight edge is still a very misunderstood lifestyle that gets a bad reputation because outsiders prefer to ridicule it instead of try to understand it.

And so, now we have “I’ll Still Sing.” I guess the message of the song is to continue holding your ground, doing what you love and being true to yourself, even if other people try to bring you down. I realize that it’s risky; voicing a strong opinion like this in a song always is, whether it’s about being straight edge, or religious or political reliefs, whatever. But I think the song needed to go there and I think you guys will really like how the song turned out… I know I do!

♥ Rebecca