Piano rock band Jack's Mannequin starts an amphitheater tour opening for the Fray on June 12 in Atlanta. While some groups loathe playing before dark, head Mannequin Andrew McMahon loves the light show nature provides: "For me, playing the sun out of the sky is probably my favorite [time] to play," he says.  But McMahon has much more than that on his plate than the tour: he's already thinking about the follow-up to "The Glass Passenger" and is prepping the launch of his clothing line, River Apparel.  Fifty percent of profits from sales will go to The Dear Jack Foundation,  McMahon's charity that benefits leukemia research. He started the charity after surviving his own bout with leukemia four years ago.

 Shortly before hitting the road, McMahon took a few minutes out to talk with Hitfix.

 Q: Many of your songs are about coming out of the dark into the light. Is there certain music you turn to when you need to do that?

 A:  You know, there is and there isn't. A lot of it is sitting down at the piano and trying to write, that's where I tend to find myself when I'm at those moments...There are a ton of records that travel with me. Anything by Tom Petty travels with me.  There's an old Counting Crows' record, "August and Everything After" that's a great rainy day listen.

  Q: You asked for fans to send in artwork for inclusion for the new video, "Swim." Why did you want their involvement?

 A:  A lot of the record is very personal, obviously. That song is not really an exception, but I was trying to use what I had gone through to tap into a more universal theme. With the video, we really wanted it to be more about the human condition than my own condition. We thought a great way to do that would be to include people from my fan base and other artists and [make it a] universal  meditation on hope and perseverance...We may put up a big gallery where all the art  is exhibited... We'd like to do something  in the fall for the foundation  that I run. Within 3 days we had 150 submissions, I was pretty impressed. It's cool to see that's a common thread between myself and people that listen to my music.

 Q: Jack's Mannequin postponed a leg of your Farther from the Earth  headlining tour to open for the Fray this summer. You wrote a really nice note to your fans about why you did it.  Still feeling any backlash?

A:  You know, if there is one, it's probably contained to the internet, which is a place I visit very infrequently.  From what I understand, people responded a lot more warmly than I anticipated. I was very nervous when I sent it out; cancelling shows isn't something I take lighty. ..The Fray is giving us an hour set, so if someone comes out and sees us on that tour, they're only missing about 20 minutes [of our headlining tour], and, frankly, we'll probably reschedule those dates, Hopefully, they won't hate me too much and won't stop listening to our music. It's a business and we want new people to hear our music. It gives us the chance to reach out to 10-15,000 people a night; that's not an opportunity that you pass up.

 Q: Both you and the Fray's Isaac Slade play piano. Any mean duets planned on this tour of "Heart and Soul" or "Chopsticks?"

 A: Right! We're roll [my piano] out and do dueling pianos. (laughs) At this point, there's not any plan, you never know. You're spending a whole summer out there. Part of me hopes that we end up working something out. Usually when we're traveling with any band, we get them up there to do something. Maybe we'll get  a little duet on "Heart and Soul." Go print that; I'll be living that down for the rest of the summer.

 Q: "The Glass Passenger" seems to be a way of putting your illness behind you. What are you thinking about for the next album?

 A: I definitely have the beginnings of a new record hatching. That's still a pretty initial idea, but I try to wrap a record up and within the next few months start moving forward. I can't say I have dealt with every issue attached to the last few years, I don't know if that's the case. You try to clear out the residual. The hope is that thematically I'm able to pass what "The Glass Passenger" was about and I hope I will.  My hope is that the next record is a more uptempo, major themed. At this point, I have a lot of ideas running around, but getting into the studio and finding the right guy to work with...

Q: Who is your dream producer?

A: I don't have that sort of thought like, "Oh I'm just going to find that guy."  I've met some of the greatest guys outside of the studio that I'd love to work with, but until you're in the studio you can't tell over coffee whether you're going to like working in the studio. I would die to work with someone like Jeff Lynne; there are a few of these guys that we're talking to now. I'm a little bit manic when it comes to the studio. It will really come down to if there's someone who can tolerate me...  That's why I had such a good relationship with [co-producer] Jim [Wirt]; it became easier because he was able to deal with my level of lunacy. We made five records together. I'll probably try someone else; I have to find someone else to strap onto the bomb. The unfortunate thing with a lot of these big-name producers...they want you to commit to doing a whole album after cup of tea."

Q:  You do a great deal of charity work, including your own foundation, the Dear Jack Foundation. How important is it that artists who have a platform use it for good and to raise awareness?

 A:  It's important to me. I'd never insinuate that it's necessary or an obligation to someone else to do the same. I was in music for several years before what happened to me inspired me to use the platform to enable a charitable device. It's been really rewarding to me spiritually and personally to use some of what I do to give back. It means a lot to me, but I also see the flipside of that--if you don't have a cause, in some respects it allows you to just approach your art, but it's been a fundamental part of what I do.

 Q: Who would we be surprised to know is on your iPod?

 A: There's this amazing rapper named Kool Keith, who [recorded]  in this other personality, Dr. Octagon. I'm an enormous Dr. Octagon fan. People would consider that a little shocking, the last few dates we've come out to stage to Dr. Octagon.

Q:  When's the last time someone called you Jack?

 A: It's so funny, it's pretty rare. I imagine I could count the times that rally stand out on a couple of hands. I really thought that was coming back to haunt me when I named the band. It's usually not all that common. It's when we open up for another band their fans will be 'You're Jack?" ...  I usually just go with it.

Britney Spears

Credit: AP Photo/Peter Kramer

Britney Spears' "Circus" tour continues to bring more shows under its big top. Via her website, Spears announced Tuesday that the tour will head to Australia in November. This marks Brit Brit's first shows down under.

Spears is in the midst of an eight-show run at London's 02 Arena. After playing Manchester, England and Dublin, she heads to continental Europe for and Russia for the rest of June and July.

The "Circus" started in New Orleans in March and wrapped its very successful U.S. leg in May.  No word on if Spears will play more domestic dates before the "Circus" leaves town for good.

"I've wanted to tour Australia for quite some time and now it's finally happening," says Spears on her website.  "My 'Circus' tour is the best show I have ever created and I can't wait to perform it for all of my Australian fans."
 
Tour dates are:
 
Friday, 6 November                  Perth, Burswood Dome
Wednesday, 11 November       Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
Thursday, 12 November           Melbourne, Rod Laver Arena
Thursday, 19 November           Sydney, Acer Arena
Friday, 20 November                Sydney, Acer Arena
Tuesday, 24 November            Brisbane, Entertainment Centre

Aerosmith

Aerosmith has been rocking the world since 1970. As if that weren't remarkable enough a feat, against all odds the legendary band is still comprised of its original members: vocalist Steven Tyler, guitarist Joe Perry, guitarist Brad Whitford, bassist Tom Hamilton and drummer Joey Kramer.

On Wednesday, Aerosmith starts a summer tour in St. Louis. Beginning 21, they'll be joined by ZZ Top in a hit-filled double bill sure to please classic rock fans. (Whitford, who is recovering from surgery, will join the tour in progress. Until then, guitarist Bobby Schneck will fill in).

Hamilton talked to Hitfix from his Boston-area home about the tour, how the band almost lost it all and the one book you'll never see him write.

Q:  Next year is Aerosmith's 40^th anniversary. Did you ever think it would last this long?

A:  It shouldn't be allowed. Now with Obama in there, they'll do some kind of consumer protection thing (laughs). Yeah, I'm at a point in my life when I hear people say that it all goes by really fast and I remember hearing people say that when I was in my youth and I would say, you know, an hour is still an hour. Meanwhile, now an hour feels like five minutes.  Yeah, everything seems to speed up and, for me, it makes me focus because there are still so many things to accomplish with this band, as a band and as individuals.

Q: The new tour starts June 10. Do you still get excited the night before? Is it like going back to school?

A: It is.  The thing is when you start a tour, obviously you haven' t been playing those songs every other night so you have to concentrate more on the arrangement themselves and the details of what you're playing until you get completely up and running. You can't assume, "Oh, we're going to play 'Ragdoll.' Yeah, okay, I don't need to work on that. For God's sake, I've played that 500 times."  And then you're up there going, "Oh my God! Is the next verse coming up or is it the bridge? Crap! Why didn't I practice?"

Q: So you're got to wait awhile for muscle memory to kick in.

A: Yeah and it always does. But it's good to have it actually kick in before the first show.

Q: What do you think is the key to staying sane on the road? To passing the 22 hours a day that you're not on stage?

A: The part that I like... We've been fortunate enough to use a charter plane for a while. I love those nights where it's the band and a few of our crew people on the plane. That's when you just really feel the camaraderie. How lucky are we to be able to be sitting in this thing? Instead of looking up at the airplanes, we're in the plane, going to the next gig. ...but I'll tell you something else, busses are great too. We're usually broken up, it's usually a couple of guys in their own busses and then maybe three of us with some other people in the plane, but there are times when we're going to some remote area altogether and I like it; it's cool.  

Q: You're going on the road with ZZ Top. What excites you about going out with them?

A: Well, what excites me about going out with them and I think everybody else in the band is they have so many damn good songs. We've toured with bands in the past that might have had more of a newness factor or a coolness factor, but they'd get up there and have a couple of songs that the audience is really into and then the rest of it would kind of be not that exciting and I could see it on the faces of the crowd.

You go out and watch the opening act and how they're going over. The audience can be cruel. If it's not a band that has a lot of good songs, they're going to let you know that they're tolerating you until Aerosmith goes on.  But those guys, they're going to get up there and every song they play, the crowd's going to get energized and it's really going to be a lot of fun.

Q: What song never gets old for you to play live?

A: I have to say "Living on the Edge." I'm actually a little bit on the fence for that one for the tour. That song has that ethereal thing and you can just milk so much emotion out of it and then I love playing "Back in the Saddle." It's still a challenge for me. That main rift is a weird rift, that's very Joe Perry. (laughs) It's a powerful song, but it's got a lot of subtleties and little things that have to feel right.

Q: My former boss at Billboard was a long time observer of the band and one day he said to me, "The thing about Aerosmith is they are locked in a dance they can not get out of."

A:  (laughs) It's, you know...sometimes I sit and think about how it can get very volatile and how there's a crisis every other day, but I think it would be comical if this band ever got to the point where we made some announcement that we were breaking up the band because it's too late to do that.

Q: You did split for awhile.

A: It wasn't a full break up. It was a sort of broken in half kind of thing. Steven and Joey and I kept going and Joe and Brad each went out and each did their own solo things and sort of wallowed around for three years doing that. It was a very good lesson for us to learn. We were lucky that we were able to get back together and not only start making good albums again, but still be together. I still can think back to those years where we all realized we had this amazing thing that so many people would, you know, give their left foot to have and it's worth keeping. We blew it and lost it for a few years, but we got to go catch it again and we remember that.

Q: What is going on with the new album?  When will we see it?

A: I know, really... We did about six to eight weeks of really intense work in like February and March and we started out knowing that we were going on the road. At that point, we didn't know it was going to be June; we thought it might be sooner. Some of us just said "let's see what we can pull off. Let's just get it going and pound away and see what we can get done." Right around the same time we finalized the agreement with Brendan O'Brien, who's an awesome producer that we've wanted to work with for a long time. He actually mixed our "Get a Grip" album. He runs a super tight schedule and we're kind of, you know, we're kind of slow. We have our moments. There can be a period of a little bit of drifting.

We took about 10 songs and got them all arranged and the pre-production pretty much done on them and we were ready to go down to New York and record... but Steven got an ear infection and that turned into a lung infection and that put the schedule back to where  Brendan had to take off. So, you know, we're going to go out and tour and then we'll come back and finish this thing off.

Q: Steven has an autobiography coming out called "Do the Voices in my Head Bother You?" Do you have a book in you?

A: I do like to write and I've written stuff for the website and stuff here and there, so yeah, if I was to do a book, it would not be another "Gee I was so fucked up and now I'm okay."

Q: What would it be?

A: It would be more about the raw fun and inspiration of being these teenagers that were really dreaming about doing something and, all of sudden; it just sort of flowed into it. When you're in high school...I was accepted at a couple of schools, I was going to take a drama program, but I had this desire to do the band thing that was really strong. It was something that just kind of happened...

It's funny now, people will come up to me with their 13- or 14- year- old kid and say, "Well, he really wants to be a musician.  He's working really hard at it but I told him you gotta have something to fall back on." And ask me if that's how I did it. [And I say] "Well, you don't really have a Plan B, you know. If you have a Plan B, you're going to kill Plan A." They get this look on their face like "Why the hell did you just say that?" (laughs).

Fergie of the Black Eyed Peas

Credit: Charles Sykes/AP

There are more reasons than ever to use music as an escape from the harsh realities of the cruel world. The Black Eyed Peas know that and are more than happy to oblige.

"If we could party all night and sleep all day, my life would be easy," the quartet sings on "Party All the Time," which, like the other 14 tracks on "The E.N.D.," is an unabashed call to leave your troubles behind, or at least dance away from them as fast as you can. The CD, whose title stands for "The Energy Never Dies" is a non-stop electronic dance party of shifting beats and tempos.

Opening track and first single, the frenetic "Boom Boom Pow" has already turned into the biggest hit of the group's career and there's no shortage where that came from.

But what stands out about "The E.N.D." is not how hit laden it is (and trust me, they'll go deep on this one), but that Will.I.Am and company totally refute the dogged rumors that they're sold out to the mainstream by putting some tracks on here that are way too beat-heavy to ever get played on Top 40 radio. For example, "Rock That Body" opens like something from Fatboy Slim before evolving into a hypnotic dance track that is sure to be a club hit, but is too hardcore for mainstream.

Sitting pretty: Kris Allen

Credit: FOX

"American Idol" winner Kris Allen has signed with 19 Recordings, who will license Allen's recordings to Jive. His first release will come out later this fall.

 Allen, whose win many saw as an upset over critic's favorite Adam Lambert, is already enjoying his first blush of success. He has three songs currently on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart: his version of the "official" "American Idol" single, "No Boundaries" (Do these treacly songs ever get the winner off to a good start?  Eight seasons in, the resounding answer is no. They are simply a way to instantly capitalize on the initial rush of excitement fans feel for the winner), "Heartless" and "Ain't No Sunshine."

 No word on who will be producing or writing for Allen's CD, but the fact that he signed with Jive, as opposed to other possible labels within the Sony family (such as RCA or Arista), indicates that he will stay within the pop range that he showed on "American Idol." Jive is also home to artists like Britney Spears and former Idol contestant Jordin Sparks.

 As is the usual case, 19 Entertainment, whose CEO Simon Fuller is creator/executive producer of "American Idol," has the right of first refusal to sign any "AI" finalist to his record label, 19, then license the CD to the appropriate label.

 Allen's deal with 19/Jive is an arrangement similar to those for Kelly Clarkson (on 19/RCA), Carrie Underwood (19/Arista Nashville) and Kellie Pickler (19/BNA). In other words, a record-selling Idol is a gift that just keeps on giving to Fuller.

 19 Entertainment will also manage Allen's career. 

 Before his CD comes out, Allen will hit the road on the 50-city American Idol 2009 Summer Tour, which starts  July 5 in Portland, Ore.

Dave Matthews performs on the "Today" show on June 5, 2009.

Credit: AP Photo/Richard Drew

Eminem's two-week run at No. 1 ends next week when Dave Matthews Band handily slips into the top spot on the album chart.

"Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King" should sell upwards of 400,000 copies, according to Hits Daily Double. That makes it one of the highest debuts of the year, behind such acts as Eminem and U2.

Eminem's "Relapse" moves to No. 2 with estimated sales of around 160,000, which is more than twice as much as 311, who is expected to debut at No. 3. The only other debut in the top 10 will come from Taking Back Sunday, will duke it out with Lady GaGa and Green Day for the No. 4 slot, with all three expected to sell around 50,000 units.

Although it doesn't help Eminem to stay No. 1, both he and Kings of Leon should get a boost from their appearances on the MTV Movie Awards.  KoL's  "Only By the Night" may get enough of a helping hand to move from No. 15 or so back into the Top 10. Similarly, Taylor Swift's "Fearless," which needs no help, should get a bit of a bump from the "Dateline" episode devoted to her that aired on Sunday as well.  

Kelly Rowland

Summer doesn't officially start for another two weeks or so, but "When Love Takes Over," by David Guetta featuring Kelly Rowland, is already shaping up to be the season's first anthem.

Already a hit in Europe (where Guetta is well known as a top DJ), the song has been working its way across the Atlantic, gathering strength as it rolls upon our shores. It has also been collecting steam in the dance community since its introduction at the Winter Music Conference in late March and is now No. 1 on the Dance Charts.

Today, the official video for "When Love Takes Over" was released and, in keeping with the summer feel, it takes place at Venice Beach, Calif., incorporating many of the street performers and characters who help make Venice such a popular place to visit.

Rowland is fierce throughout and it clearly experiencing a bit of a career resurgence after a dip. She gives her best Beyonce-type stares straight into the camera (but we're sure that's just a coincidence). It's almost as if she's putting her former Destiny's Child bandmate on warning: "Move over: There's room for more than one diva on the top of the charts, sister."

Guetta, who is relegated to a supporting role in his own video,  shows up pushing his gear on a cart, looking basically like any other homeless guy hanging out in Venice. Little do people know he's actually the musical Merlin who's about to transform their routine day at the beach into the hottest ocean-side party they've ever seen with magically-appearing, scantily-clad dancers imported from some Pacific island.

This is a clip meant for the mainstream fans, not those folks ahead of the curve who first heard the song at Winter Music Conference or who have been watching fan-captured video on youtube. In reaching for the broadest base, director Jonas Akerlund has stripped something away from the song. The video could have built on the great beat that builds within the song and the feeling of abandon that falling in love can bring you, but, instead, we get a telegenic couple making out who seem to drop in from nowhere.

There's a grainy, fan-shot clip on Youtube of Guetta and Rowland performing the song before rabid fans in Goteberg, Sweden that captures the energy and spirit so much better than this gorgeous, but hollow-feeling video. Granted, the fan clip isn't high enough quality to use, but it's that kind of energy that the video should have strived for instead of giving us a very nice, albeit, somewhat bland travelogue of Venice Beach that could have been made by the tourist bureau.

On a side note, do the opening and closing keyboard lines sound like "Clocks" by Coldplay to anyone else but me? (Maybe Chris Martin will get to sue someone else instead of getting sued himself for "Viva La Vida")

Whitney Houston

Credit: Arista

 We can stop holding our collective breath now. Today, Arista announced Sept. 1 as the release date for Whitney Houston's first new studio album in seven years.

Details were scant but the hype was already in overdrive in a press release that trumpeted "The Wait is over" and proclaimed the project as "the most anticipated album of the year."

The still-untitled project is her first since 2002's "Just Whitney" (she also released a new holiday album in 2003). There's no track listing or hint at a first single, but bits and pieces, all subject to change, have leaked out over recent months. Rolling Stone.com   says among those whom Houston worked with on the project are R.Kelly, Diane Warren, David Foster, Swiss Beatz and Akon.

The comeback trail for Houston started at industry legend Clive Davis's pre-Grammy party in 2008 when she showed up at the event in her first public appearance in some time. Davis signed Houston to Arista and has been the guiding force in her career over the last 25 years.

The drum beat for the new album got louder this past February when Houston actually performed at the fete, clad in a tight, leopard-print dress. Associated Press's Nekesa Mumbi Moody called the return "triumphant," but noted that Houston's once unassailable voice did show some wear and tear:  

"Houston started off with "I Will Always Love You," but didn't hit the high, sustaining notes that made the song such a dramatic, stirring hit. Instead, she kept her voice at medium power, deciding to croon rather than soar.

But as she got into hits like "It's Not Right, But It's O.K.," her voice appeared to get stronger - and louder, and while she never replicated the vocal gymnastics of some of her past work, delivered a mesmerizing performance nonetheless."

The Sept. 1 release date means the new album misses the Grammy eligibility period by one day. (The cycle is shorter by one month this year because the Grammys will air on Jan. 31, 2010, four weeks earlier than usual). However, we're sure that's not going to stop the label. There are plenty of ways around that, such as releasing a vinyl version a week earlier or some kind of online offering. Or the plan could simply be to have only the first single, which will undoubtedly be released over the summer, be in contention for this year's Grammys and then go for the big push for album of the year the following awards cycle.  

MGMT

Credit: Columbia

MGMT's new video for the infectious "Kids" is the equivalent of Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream: it's really busy and there's way too much going on, but somehow all the different sensations meld into a fascinating, if very strange, mix.  

Of course, there's the question of why is the synth pop band (one of the more interesting new groups to emerge in the last few years) releasing a video now for a song that came out eight months ago, but that would be quibbling where there's so much to digest here.

Directed by Ray Tintori, who also helmed MGMT's trippy clips for "Time to Pretend" and "Electric Feel,"  "Kids" is  six videos rolled into one.

It opens with a gentle, string interlude not on the single with a roiling, uncontrolled fire and a quote from Mark Twain about monsters (In a note on its website, the band remarks that "Kids, the first song MGMT ever wrote in 2003, has grown into some kind of monster). As the music  bursts into the bouncy synth intro we're familiar with, a toddler in his crib is being taunted by monsters-- not the cute, furry kind like on "Sesame Street," but ones with antennae; gross, crustacean-like things that look like something out of "Pan's Labyrinth."

Okay, a little side bar here. I'm  sure some of this is blue screen in the opening, but when the little kid is crying as he runs past the monsters on the street, I wanted to call Child Protective Services. Who let their kid be in this clip? Whatever money the parents make from the kid's acting job should go into a fund for therapy later. The kid is going to need it. I may have nightmares and am I'm a lot older than this tot.

But quite frankly, I don't know what's scarier: the monsters that haunt the toddler or the first glimpse of the band dressed like woodland nymphs descended from outer space. You gotta be pretty secure to wear those silvery outfits. But before we can really contemplate that, the video twists into a demented puppet show and then into anmation where little bunnies morph into witches, ghosts and dancing pigs and then, we think, slices of ham and pizza. We don't want to give away the ending, but it sort of ties it all together.

I don't really know what any of it means, but I'm endlessly fascinated by it. More importantly, the clip is what videos should be: a further interpretation of the band's art and MGMT is nothing if not a band with psychedelic, deeply catchy but off-kilter pop songs.  Worth the eight-month wait?  You bet.

Diane Birch

Diane Birch has big shoes to fill. Early reviews compare her to Carole King, Laura Nyro and Aretha Franklin. The Franklin nod is a bit of a stretch, but there's no denying that the 20-something singer/songwriter's S-Curve Records debut, "Bible Belt," is infused with the kind of soul that is rare these days.

Recorded in New York and New Orleans with producers Betty Wright, Mike Mancini and S-Curve Records founder Steve Greenberg, "Bible Belt" synthesizes Birch's lifetime of influences: from the choir music she heard growing up around the globe as the daughter of a minister to the pop music she caught up on once she moved to the United States. A number of top-flight musicians played on the album, including The Roots bassist Adam Blackstone, Patti Smith Group's guitarist Lenny Kaye and the Meters' George Porter.

Hitfix caught a performance by Birch and her band June 2 in the courtyard at the landmark Capitol Tower in Hollywood. It was a big day for Birch: "Bible Belt" hit retail stores and she made her TV debut, appearing on "Late Night with Craig Ferguson."

Read what she has to say here and then check out her first single, the soulful "Nothing but a Miracle" here.

Q: Tell us about your influences found their way onto this record.

A: The influences probably start with church hymns. I grew up in church, my dad was a preacher, and I think that I really was influenced by classical music and church hymns and opera. And then when I moved to America, I started listening to more pop music and I sort of went through a lot of different genres because I hadn't grown up with it as a child. I had to sort of expose myself to a lot of things where I could quickly catch up. I gravitated towards so many different things and so many different genres of music and I essentially kind of just picked out the essential bit and the pure essence of each genre and I kind of incorporated it [on "Bible Belt"]

Q: What was the first album you ever bought?

A: I don't really know, maybe Depeche Mode? I listened to the Cure, I listened to Bauhaus. I listened to a lot of Goth bands and I started listening to more pop. I can't really put my finger on what it is. I've never really stuck in one specific genre. I think this record represents the best...I can't really say that...but it represents, in my mind, what I thought was the best of all these different genres.

Q: What was the best part about making the record?

A: The best part, really, is just seeing your songs come to life, seeing such incredible musicians playing on the album. It's an honor to have such a high caliber of musicianship all over the album. It was really great to see that level of effort put into making a record in this day and age is really rare. I'm so grateful for Steve for wanting to put all of that into it.

Q: What was the most challenging part?

A: The most challenging part is really working with people who have different ideas and visions. When you've kind of birthed these songs-- I've lived with them, I've thought about how I hear every part, every vocal part, every arrangement of everything-- you get a lot of different ideas coming in and it kind of throws off the plan. You have to be open to that and as an artist it's really hard to do that. I had to realize it's my first record and I don't know all there is to know. And you have to let go. It's hard.

Q: You just put on a great show. What do you like best about playing live?

A: I love seeing how it affects people. I just want people to have a good time. I want to have a good time when I go listen to music. I just want to keep playing with the band. I think we have a great chemistry. We've only been playing together for a short time. I think if we can keep playing and keep playing, we can start to really develop. And I like to show different aspects of the songs. I think [playing live] shows different sides of it. I think people need to connect to the music. People can do that with the album, but there's a whole different side of me that people need to see.