Justin Nyilas, of This Is A Shakedown!, has entered and submitted a remix for a new group called N.A.S.A. N.A.S.A., which stands for North America and South America, is an international collaboration between music aficionados Squeak E. Clean, DJ Zegon and their friends, family, and musical heroes. The Spirit of Apollo tastefully combines the sounds of Brazillian funk with soul, reggae, indie rock, old school hip hop and more, and includes superstar collaborations with some of the world’s best musicians.

We played an amazing festival this weekend. It was a totally sick time. We met tons of crazy awesome people, although I almost fucked it all up. Our tour manager and I got in Wednesday night, before the other bands. We wanted to get there in time to get to know all of the panelists before anyone else…don’t want you to think it had anything to do with getting extra time to drink. DUH!

Anyway, the next day, everyone started showing up and that’s when everything started to pop off. After drinking and getting to know a bunch of important people, it was time to head back to the hotel. We ended up meeting and making friends with a band (that will remain nameless) and catching a ride with them. As soon as we got back we remembered that we had a half of jug of 90 proof vodka and a twelve pack of Colt 45. So, of course, everyone headed back to our room. For the next hour or so we all hung out, power drinking and laughing our asses off (so hard my face hurt the next day).

You know those events you shouldn’t miss. This is one of them..

Get those dancing shoes (6 inch Alexander Wang heels for most of you) and head out to The Delancey for Fashion Indie’s new party Young Guns! This is a party you won’t want to miss! The place is going to be packed wall to wall, and the music will have you dancing all night! This is a family affair, so round up all your friends and head over tonight!

PS. Did I mention FREE VODKA FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE VODKA!

Please RSVP on CultIndie!

You create a BANNED music video?

Last night, we finally had the shoot for our live video stuff. We did 5 songs. We went all out on this one. We’re still figuring out what we’re going to do with it. The original idea was to just get some footage up on some of our sites and stuff, but it went so well that we’re probably going to put out a live e.p. of the footage/ audio of the show. The show was a huge success. Everyone went ape shit. Probably one of the best shows I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. So, all I can do right now is to tease you with a couple stills of it and I guess you’ll have to wait for the rest. I got to check off one of my life goals off the list though: guitar solo while crowd surfing. It was fucking epic. Stay tuned for the footage. It’s going to be amazing! Yeah.

So recently, I have been talking a lot with Rebecca and Daniel from this retardedly awesome blog. I was introduced to them through an intern that works at our label, Reversed Image Unlimited. This company just so happens to be the same record company that my band, THIS IS A SHAKEDOWN! is signed to.

How this all happened is super rad. It started out with Rebecca seeing our video for a song on our album called “Circles”. The video was shot for free using 21 borrowed Mac laptops using the “photobooth” application. This idea came to me one late night as we were recording, probably wasted on who knows what: actually, most likely whiskey and really good bud. I like to smoke weed, it definitely helps with the creative process. So anyway, our producer liked the idea so we did it.

One thing led to another and we came up with the idea to do a show with FashionIndie.com coinciding with fashion week, which is now set to be on Sept 18th at Le Royal. We are super excited to do this event. Actually, we have been talking so much that we are trying to work together as much as possible. They also booked Justin (our keyboardist) and I for a DJ gig at the Inc lounge for the “For the Love of Kate” event. We will be rocking all the sickest electro shit out there. This is just the start of an amazing relationship between THIS IS A SHAKEDOWN! and FashionIndie. Get used to seeing our name cause we’re about to be everywhere. No joke.

Now, apparently, I will be writing blog posts as well. I have been checking out different blogs as of late. I have a few favorites. I want to start with saying this about what I will be writing. Most likely it wont be fashion. I consider myself to be into and “up to date” with it, but not enough to write about it. I may write about music, but not as much as you think. I am the biggest fan, but I’m just not pretentious enough to think that anyone cares about what the fuck I have to say about it. This isn’t fucking “Pitchfork” or “Gorilla vs. Bear”.  So, I’m just going to write about whatever the fuck I want. I can’t even tell you what it’s going to be. I lead a pretty interesting life and there is a lot of great things that are happening to me right now, so maybe it will just be interesting to follow that.

So, make sure you keep coming back. I have a feeling things are going to be getting very interesting, very soon. I look forward to being able to share whatever the hell I want to with everyone. This is going to be a great way to get shit off my chest. Fuck yeah.

B Z

The Fashion Indie Team is getting ready for fashion week, only this time we have something special up our sleeves…Our Fashion Week Closing Party will include a performance by an amazing up and coming band from Cleveland, Ohio, my hometown. Don’t judge till you hear them, they are awesome, and we are lucky to host an event with them during fashion week.

Also, Brandon Zano, the lead singer, has been officially recruited as a feature blogger, giving y’all insight into his “insane f***ing life” that apparently includes “tons of women, 3somes, drugs, booze, touring, fights, homelessness, growing up in the record industry, and countless other dumb fucking shit.”

Not sure about you, but I’m excited! Look for his bio and first article later tonight…and join Cult to be invited to the event.

Check out their music here.

On March 20th, 2009 This Is A Shakedown! recorded their music video for “Circles” at Ante Up Audio in Cleveland, Ohio using 21 borrowed Apple Mac Books, creating the first music video using Photo Booth.

Leading a new generation of artists is a group that appropriately calls itself THIS IS A SHAKEDOWN! Fusing together influences drawn from playing in mostly punk, heavy rock acts and listening to an eclectic range of music from gospel to R&B to hip-hop and underground dance music, THIS IS A SHAKEDOWN! has created its own intoxicating blend of rock instruments and electronics. Its goal above all: to get your blood pumping and your body moving.

“It’s music you can bang to,” says vocalist/guitarist Brandon Zano. “It’s very sexually driven.” Adds bassist Daniel Lee, “There’s definitely a lot of adrenaline.”

The band launched in early 2008 and quickly started looking for opportunities to get heard. They approached multi-platinum producer, engineer Michael Seifert of Cleveland’s Ante Up Audio, whom Zano knew from working with in past projects. He caught the group live and immediately signed them as the first act on his new label Reversed Image Unlimited LLC. Their first full-length disc, “LOVE KILLS” was released on May 5th 2009.

While the band’s currently focused on the CD that will introduce them to the world, they’re continuing to play out as much as possible. A national coast to coast tour is planned for this summer

“Our emphasis is to prove that our live show is just as good as or better than the album,” says Zano. “We come from bands with punk and rock influences. We don’t just stand there. We’re ravenous about it. We want the live experience to be so intense that for the next week, after seeing THIS IS A SHAKEDOWN! your heart is still pounding and your body is still shaking.”