Black Music Honors Full Show | 2018

A Poem for Aretha Franklin

This is a special Poem for Aretha Franklin

A poem for Aretha Franklin

All hail to the queen of soul
your musical style is versatile
be it gospel, blues with a splash of rock n roll

You were a person  that projected class & grace
Your down to earth personality & influence
presented  sweet & sincere embrace


Though you're gone in body your music
 & words are in our hearts & memories
remembered forever & you'll have our
undying love & R-E-S-P-E-C-T

"Friday Night" episode on NBC (May 26, 1995)

DJ Interviews: Mills End

 Hey everyone DJ Dizzy here & its time once again to shine the spotlight on a band who answers to the name of Mills End.

How'd you get started in music?

Personally, I started playing guitar around age 15 after listening to Van Halen (dating myself lol). After that it was garage bands to bands playing locally leading up to present day. It’s just something I was addicted to from day one.

Who are your inspirations or influences?

Mill’s End has a pretty wide array of influences, we definitely are inspired by several classic rock bands such as The Stones, Allman Brothers, Skynyrd, Rush as well as several 90’s bands such as Ryan Adams, REM, Pearl Jam and Wilco.

What advice would offer aspiring performers?

The two things I would say is first put the work in, it’s really all about the time spent in rehearsal working on songs and getting everything sounding the way you want. If you don’t have the material or the ability to play it live, all the promotion in the world won’t help you. Second is have a good business sense, you really should run things like a small business and be as organized as possible with finances, promotion, etc.

Any new gigs or albums in the future?

Always playing out, check out millsendband.com for the latest news on shows and currently in the studio working on our next single which should be out before the new year.


I wish them nothing but luck in their musical career & special thanks to them for this interview so until then stay awesome & rock n roll!

DJ Interviews: The Band Kris

Hello one & all DJ Dizzy here & its time for a band interview this time with a band by the name of The Band Kris who had this to say regarding their success & career.

Q: How’d you get started in music?

A: We’ve been playing music separately since the day we were exposed to our instruments, (piano & guitar) but it was in 2014 that we came together and wrote a song for our brother who was an aspiring musician but passed away. We wrote a song called “Dear Kris” updating our brother on what life is like down here without him and that was the song that brought us together as a sister duo. 

Q: Who are your inspirations or influences?

A: We have always been inspired and influenced by Taylor Swift. As self taught musicians, we followed her songwriting techniques and her songs were some of the first songs we learned on our instruments. We are also influenced by Meghan Trainor. We were fortunate enough to meet her a few years back. We love her catchy and honest lyrics! Definitely has some influence over our writing. 

Q: What advice would you offer aspiring performers?

A: Passion can take you very far and if you want it bad enough, you will make it happen. The only thing in your way, is yourself! We were scared out of our minds to move to Nashville, 2,000 miles away from home but we want this music career so bad that we will do anything to pursue our dreams! Don’t let fear control your future!

Q: How do you set yourselves apart from other bands or singers?

A: We try to spend our time focusing on how we can be unique rather than comparing ourselves to other bands. We really focus on creating the best songs that we can by turning every single moment into a song. One time we actually wrote a whole song based off of a word we liked- “Expired". This helps us continue to write everyday and develop our own sound. We NEVER stop writing! We also know that our story sets us apart because we are following our dream for more than just ourselves, we are following it for our brother as well. He was an L.A. based guitarist but unfortunately passed away before fully living out his music aspirations so we took it in our hearts to not only follow our dream, but his as well. Now his name, Kris, can continue to live on through our music which is why we call ourselves, The Band Kris. 

Q: Any new gigs or albums in the future?

A: We recently released a music video for our single, “Jacket” which is still fairly new. However, we will be releasing another single very soon! So stay tuned! We hope to get in the studio to record an album but until then we release an original song on our Youtube Channel (@The Band Kris) every Tuesday & Thursday. 

As far as gigs, we will be playing in a writers round at The Commodore Grille in Nashville, TN on January 31st! We also pop in on Monday nights at The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, TN to play new songs of ours quite often. 

Special thanks to the Band Kris for this interview & I wish them nothing but luck in their music. So with that said...………...

Stay awesome & rock n roll!

DJ Interviews: Counterfeit Youth

Hey there folks DJ Dizzy here & I had the pleasure of interviewing a band who call themselves Counterfeit Youth who had a lot to say on their musical beginnings

1. How did you get started in music?

All of us in the band have always had a deep passion for music of all genres and learnt our instruments through our early teens, being in a band is something all of us had always wanted to do, we were all in different bands when we all eventually came together to start Counterfeit Youth. Two of the bands original members are no longer part of the band, fortunately we were able to find two more of our good friends who also shared our passion and drive and we've stuck together since.

2. Who are your influences/inspirations?

We all have different inspirations and influences, all of us have a collective favorite genre

but we also all have our own favorite genres. We love Pop Punk and Alt Rock, that's what we love to play, but we also love to listen to everything from Punk, Metal, Classic Rock, Indie and even Ska and old school Hip Hop! As a band our influences for our sound are mainly bands such as Blink 182 and Sum 41, the real Pop Punk heavyweights, but we take great inspiration from Biffy Clyro, as his style covers everything from heavy to sing-a-long songs. We've actually been compared to Biffy in a gig review once, so we must be doing something right!

3. What advice would you offer aspiring performers?

If you're not in a band but want to be, dont be scared to ask people you know love music as well, and dont be scared to find people you dont know to be in a band, we found two of our original members through band ads on the internet so always be open to the idea. If you're in a band and dream of playing venues up and down the country then keep plugging away and dont be disheartened by any set backs. Sometimes it seems like your not going anywhere but every band has quiet periods, just keep going and going, eventually it will all come round.

4. How do you set yourself apart from other bands and singers?

We try to put our own signature sound on all of our songs. We like to play a certain way and write a certain way. When it comes to live shows we like to bring the party! High energy, fast paced, in your face intensity. We want everyone to jump around and dance and have a good time, when we're doing that on stage then the audience is more likely to join in and enjoy the show, it's all about having fun at the end of the day!

5. Any new gigs or albums in the future?

We have one or two more gigs lined up for the rest of the year, as we currently have a lot of work going on in the background for the future! We may have one surprise left before the end of the year to follow on from our latest release Mad On (which can be found on all good music streaming platforms) but that's just a maybe at the moment, we dont want to give to much away...

I wish them both luck & nothing but the best in things. So until then 

Stay Awesome & rock n roll!

Lady and the Clowns - Fireworks - Live @ New Rockness 10.03.2017