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That's right, all. Our very own Ryantist is in this month's issue of Modern Drummer. We've attached an image below. Make sure to pick up a copy, and to read his blog on their website.

Such Cool Stuff! Interviews Kyle.
 
Taken from : http://www.suchcoolstuff.net/2009/07/kyle-akers-of-antennas-up.html


Powerful, groovy, risk-taking Kansas City music phenomenon Antennas Up is channeling the fever of Saturday nights of the 70s with contemporary electronic sampling and fist-pumping pop. On their debut self-titled album Antennas Up will grab you from the inside and provide a soundtrack unique and strong enough to inspire.

Self-proclaimed nerd and bassist of Antennas Up, Kyle Akers, had a heavy influence on the songwriting of the album. With a knack for video games, fixing computers, and chasing girls out of his league, Akers took his nerdy frustrations to the studio.

Tell me about how you originally got into your craft, Kyle.
I played piano in middle school, and I used to sing too much in high school. So finally my friend gave in and bribed me to join choir (with sweet delicious cookies). From there I picked up guitar then bass, and met these other two jokers and decided to craft electronic rock wonders.

How do you describe your music to people?
If you built a space ship, which was also a time machine, and went back and abducted old-school Stevie Wonder, The Gorillaz, and Gnarls Barkley, then took them to a planet made entirely of speakers, you would have Antennas Up.

What is your favorite thing to do in the whole wide world?
Personally, I'm a bit of a video game nerd, and a bit of a sci-fi nerd. So I would say my favorite thing would probably be to play video games while watching Star Trek: The Next Generation while playing a rock show...while flying...in space...in the future....

What is your biggest challenge when it comes to running your business?
The hardest part about running your own band is probably keeping enough time open to work on the music. Between Bo's booking and managing, my promotions and web stuff, and The Ryantist's tech updates and massive gear research, it's hard to find time to get to sit down and write.

When you were a kid, what did you think you were going to be when you grew up?
An architect. Now I'm an architect...of tunes.

In what way has your community impacted your development as a musician?
The more and more we play as a group, and the more shows we play, the more we meet some of the coolest people we know. Our circle of friends continues to expand with artists: Painters, Musicians, Photographers, Dancers, Writers...the list goes on.

The more we can surround ourselves with people who love and focus on their craft, the more it drives us and inspires us to dive even deeper into music.

What other artists out there do you love?
Ha Ha Tonka, Via Audio, The Dig, The Republic Tigers, Life And Times...So many...so many.

What does your future hold?
A sponsorship from NASA, a suborbital trip around the moon where we establish Antennas Up Base, from which we conquer the Galaxy.

If that doesn't come through, expect a new record next year sometime, and tourings around the Midwest and Northeast quite often.


Hear their songs "High & Mighty Parade" and "Agree to Disagree" here. You can also catch them on MySpace and CDBaby.


Chicks With Guns Reviews Antennas Up

Taken from : http://cwgalbumreviews.blogspot.com/2009/07/antennas-up-self-titled.html

Rating: 4 Guns

Buy On:
iTunes

Written By: PSG

The Antennas Up self-titled new album embodies the spirit of the quintessential young man. The songs are sexy, adventurous, confident, and aware, exactly the perfect young fella. This is an album that can go along with any activity: studying, dancing, sex, brushing your teeth. It’s fresh, fun, and shallow in a good way. There are no heavy messages or moralizing to be found in these tracks, just the beat of an exciting life.

The most impressive feature of the Antennas Up album is the way the artists, make the language of the lyrics work for them, specifically “Agree to Disagree.” The words trip along perfectly with the music. Another place this works well is “Break Me Down,” when it says, “in the nation, all this information.” Linguistic rhythm set to rival master poets’ is used through this album, making it particularly noteworthy.

The vocals on this album are also exceptional. On numbers like “PSA” and “Outta Sight,” the vocals could easily have been recorded off a Broadway stage. They are deep, powerful, and share equal space in the song with the music, a rarity. Often vocals can be overpowered by the music and vice versa, but Antennas Up save themselves from this expertly. Also, particularly in the softer, ambient track “Piano Song” the vocals prove very versatile as they become much more casual.

The best part of the album is the attitude it carries which comes mostly from the music itself. It has an excellent urban sound without becoming “gansta” which makes it relatable to more and more listeners. The thing as a whole is very optimistic, which reflects the outlook of a young man in today’s world very well. The sentiment, “we’ve come too far to let it go,” fits great with the light, youthful idea of the album. “You’re going too fast,” from “Break Me Down” also fits in with this theme. Isn’t that how it feels to be a young person at this point in time? Life can really speed by.

The music which brings across these great attitude-filled ideas is rather unique. The electronic sound never comes across as fake or trying too hard, as computerized music can. The artists obviously have real control over their vision to achieve this sound, and that is something deserving of applause.

If you enjoyed Antennas Up check out: Terra Naomi and TV on the Radio

Wow! Eric Sonnakolb made this sweet flash video to our song "Outta Sight"

Get on it!

Hi there,

We wanted to announce some great news! Antennas Up has been nominated for Best New Band in Kansas City by the Pitch!

We'd like you all to go vote for us! Help us win this great award!

Also we'll be playing the Pitch Awards Showcase on August 6th, so make sure to come out!

To vote, click here: http://polls.pitch.com/polls/kcp/musicballot09/

Thanks to Enoch for writing about us!

Original post here

Antennas Up - EP

Please enjoy. Please see myspace.com/hahatonka for Pt. 1.

Our very own Ryantist has a feature in Modern Drummer you can read here:

http://www.moderndrummer.com/modern-drummer-blogs/

At a show in Lawrence, Kansas, Jordan, then drummer of Oliver Future, now drummer of the Relentless 7, gets to telling me about C&C drums. He says that they have finished drumkits for Ringo Starr, and that they’re just generally awesome folks to work with.

Ben, drummer of Denver band Meese (watch for them), gets crackin’ on a kit from C&C. He was telling me that they built him a blue sparkle kit in the same vein as an old Ludwig he had. New drums with a vintage vibe.

This was a relief to hear. I had been looking for an old Rogers or Ludwig for some time but was getting tired of dealing with all the hassle that comes with vintage drums. To say the least, most fifty-year-old drums are not in top shape. I was seconds away from pulling the trigger on a vintage Slingerland kit on eBay until I found out from the seller that the floor tom hardware was rusty because it had been pissed on. Like, with urine. Pee from a bladder. No thank you.

To be fair, there are some great, piss-free, vintage drums for sale out there, but to me, the market was a minefield. Even if I did find a great vintage kit, would I really want to take it on the road, or would I just want to admire it as it sits in a climate-controlled glass case?

Turns out C&C builds their drums just barely north of Kansas City. That's my hood. So why the hell didn’t I have a C&C kit yet?

Ready to get started on a kit, I contacted C&C, and told them about Antennas Up. They told me about their endorsement program. Score.

For the build, I had in mind a vintage-style wrap, vintage mahogany shells, vintage everything. Like opening a time capsule on a new (old) kit.

But that seemed too normal and easy. Kyle, our singer, and I got to thinking, “C&C can build whatever kit we can dream up, maybe we should do a kit that matches our album cover.” That sounded like a good idea at the time, but when we release another album do we build another kit? This idea was starting to get wasteful.

After some brain stew, we realized this was an opportunity to build a classic kit on multiple fronts, and to celebrate high geekdom. We had in mind a kit with vintage drum shells and vintage sound at heart, combined with a classic video-game exterior. Evil 8-bit alien crustaceans marching in attack formation—Space Invaders. Why hadn’t this been done before? Turns out it had…kind of. Once the kit build was underway, a friend sent me a link to this toy drumset with invader-like characters on it. A toy! Bah! The invaders light up, and six-year-olds scream with joy as they perform perfectly placed paradiddle polyrhythms.

Ok, so someone else thought it was cool to put invaders on little kid toy drums. I can hardly blame them, it’s an amazing idea. We thought, “Eff it, we’re building the bad-ass, big kid version.” Roll with me on this. Like a red sports car versus a red toy wagon.

Jake and Bill from C&C got to talking with me about the design, and after many iterations, we finally came to this multi-colored invaders with slick racing stripes on piano black. It’s kind of a combo of the album cover and Invaders. This design process was the longest part about building the kit, mostly due to my mind changing so many times. Hey, when the possibilities are infinite, it takes a while to narrow things down! Both Jake and Bill of C&C were ultra-helpful in refining the design. Lots of ideas that worked in my head needed adjustment to really come together on the drums. With all their experience, these guys know what works.

We had die-cut vinyl decals made to specific sizes, Bill measured, measured, measured again, and placed each individual sticker on the painted shells, and buried those suckers in a bunch of clear coats. The actual process is much more involved than that, but in the end, the finish is more impressive than a wrap with graphics, and way more awesome than that toy drumset.

Oh…and the sound? It’s sweet. The snare drum is unreal. Sensitive, yet focused and fat. Gotta hear it to believe it.

C&C Invader Kit specs
• Rounded bearing edges on all drums
• Steam-bent single-ply mahogany shell with maple reinforcement rings
• 6x14 snare (eight-lug) Trick throwoff, Puresound snares
• Keller Vintage mahogany-poplar shells with maple reinforcement rings
• 8x12 rack tom
• 14x16 floor tom
• 14x20 kick