"Top Tracks" Week Two

Week One's Winner is...Michael Scarlett!

Congrats to Week One's Winner, Michael Scarlett, and his track "Let's Play." The contest was really, REALLY close, but fans of his song managed to pump him up just enough to squeak by with a tight win over Corrin Campbell and the Election. Something tells me that she'll be back though! These two were going back and forth all week!

The real big news is that we had over 2,000 individual voters and they pumped through about 10,000 votes!!! Remember, you can vote as many times as you want so it's all about pumping fans through the website for 6 straight days until a winner is announced. Voters have until noon on Saturday to pump up their favorite track. All we ask is that you listen to each track and honestly pump up the one you think is the best.

The winner will always be announced here on TTFR's blog, one day before being officially announced through our email list on Monday.

Now...onto Week Two! However, there is a warning! I preach about 3 important issues in this blog...Freedom of Speech/Expression, Taking care of Veterans, and PTSD. You've been warned.

Track 1: "Waiting on Seven" by Dead End Echo

This song is really, really solid. From the very beginning you get to hear why the track made this week's top 5...the singer is awesome and the chorus is catchy. His voice is very strong and nice to listen to. When the song really picks up after the :40 second mark, you get to figure out what "waiting on seven" means. Want to know? Sorry...can't spoil it for you! Dead End Echo has a song on our new CD "Say Goodbye" coming out December 16th (which is this Tuesday for those in Iraq or Afghanistan who have lost track of the days!) and are vying to make it on two CDs in a row, with our next album coming out in February.

VOTE HERE!

Track 2: "Kick it at the Casa" by Randy Heavin

This is some good ole' fashion country baby! This makes me want to grab my cowboy hat and snakeskin boots and get down...Texas Two Step style! (Damn it...if only I had a cowboy hat or boots and wasn't from the city!) By the way, ever been to a country club where they two-step to everything? Like NWA's "Straight Outta Compton"? You know the track..."Straight outta compton, crazy mo'fo named Ice Cube..." and then you see these ladies my mom's age two steppin' and arguing over if Eazy E was better than Dre! Anyway, Randy is a great singer and this is a really fun track. The chorus is catchy and we've all been there...2 am....clubs closing...and then some dude announces the after party at his house (god knows why!!!) and everyone goes and gets even more hammered. Those guys should be put up for some sort of medal...or at least a Certificate of Appreciation because I would NEVER invite any of you crazy bastards back to my house...no offense!

VOTE HERE!

Track 3: "Marines on Deck" by Dirty Boi Vets

Warning...if you are offended by words like fuck, shit, bitch, motherfucker and a slew of other slang our teachers would kick us out of school for saying, then DON'T LISTEN TO THIS SONG! Just skip right over it. BUUUUT...if you like hardcore gangster rap by a bunch of marines keeping it real while detailing how they did their jobs over in Iraq...you'll enjoy this track.

We at TTFR love Dirty Boi Vets because we defend them against all critics as all of you should. If ANYONE in this country deserves Freedom of Speech and Expression, it is those that serve and for anyone to get offended by these fine patriots speaking their minds....well, it is ok...just don't listen to it...but please don't criticize them. And we, as brothers and sisters in arms, are willing to die every single day so we Americans can live and say what we feel without fear of censorship and punishment. It just pisses me off that sometimes we get emails that criticize our choice of putting tracks with swears/curses in them on our CDs. Look, To The Fallen will NEVER censor or filter any of our artists as long as I'm calling the shots. Period. If people don't like it they will have to find another record label. Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now and talk about the track!

I love how Rick mixed the seriousness of being scared when his boy lost his hearing with the slightly controversial fact that he has liquor in his canteen! Damn soldiers! You can't even stop them from drinking in a war zone! Sug goes in detail about serving the next President and afterwards he mixes in some live recordings of missions they did in Iraq. The last verse, Sug details his thinking after multiple firefights which is common to most of us. You go from being scared to death to treating it with a shrug of your shoulders...and that's what causes PTSD! You raise your level of awareness up to a point where you are not even scared when someone is shooting at you or mortaring your camp every night and then you come back home and still have that raised level of awareness. My opinion is that every single service member that goes to a war zone has some level of PTSD, on a scale from 1% to 100%. Anyway, that's for us to talk about with Washington and the VA, which you know we will!

VOTE HERE!

Track 4: "Nameless" by The Seeded Planet

I love this track as well. It has a good feel to it and really comes together right from the beginning. Full of metaphors and beautiful music playing, this track has it all. Halfway through the track, it really kicks into some great guitar playing and the intensity goes up and comes back down rather quickly. He mixed some sampling (or changes his vocals) and infuses the background with it...nicely done. At around 2:30, he really tones it down and tells us a little more about "The Nameless" and the faceless. Which you can guess the meaning of by the end of the track.

VOTE HERE!

Track 5: "Reunion at the Wall" by Sarge Lintecum

If any of you are Vietnam Vets you'll know this next artist. Big Sarge Lintecum has been doing his own thing in the music industry since he got back. This badass served 3 tours in Vietnam and is a premier Blues artist. Just check this out from his bio:

Sarge did three tours of duty in Vietnam, 1966-'67-'68. His first tour was eleven months in the jungle/hospital with the 101st Airborne Paratroopers as a combat infantryman. During that time he advanced to Squad Leader. Sarge came down with malaria three times, jungle-rot, immersion-foot, two varieties of internal parasites, a shrapnel wound in his leg, exposure to Agent Orange, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which Sarge says is the "Vietnam Blues".

Sarge received the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct medal, a Vietnam Service Medal with 1 Bronze Service Star and 1 Silver Service Star, Parachute Jump Wings, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, a Valorous Unit Emblem, a Republic Of Vietnam Gallantry Cross With Palm Unit Citation Badge, and five Over-Seas Bars.

Let me be clear. To The Fallen isn't just about the current crop of veterans. We will push ANY military music artist that we think has quality music and Sarge Lintecum is definitely one of them. We need to make sure that America understands that we still have veterans living among us from other wars and conflicts that we need to take care of. These guys didn't come back to the fanfare and the "Support The Troops" high that our country is currently on. This is our duty as fellow veterans and as Americans and TTFR will do what we can to make sure these men and women are taken care of and get their music out to the public so they can listen to them as well.

Sarge's track is really great. It takes a while to build up, but it is worth the wait. Sarge has a GREAT voice for Blues! This song is talking about Sarge going down to the Vietnam Wall to meet his friends from Vietnam at a reunion. Anyone can figure that out from the title, but in the song he details their history together during that conflict. You also come to find out that the reunion might not be with all living friends of Sarge's...that in fact, the reunion is with his friends' whose names are on the Wall. Some powerful shit, my friends. It makes me wonder if we will be doing the same thing in 20, 30, 40 years...

VOTE HERE!

Anyway, that is this week's tracks for you to vote on! Sorry I got on my soapbox to talk about some issues, but that is where my heart is...if you didn't feel the same way, you wouldn't be a fan of To The Fallen Records.

Have a great week of voting and remember that you can vote AS MANY times as you want!

V/R,

Sean Gilfillan
CEO
To The Fallen Records

www.ToTheFallenRecords.com
TTFR MySpace
TTFR Facebook

"Top Tracks" Week One

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Welcome to To The Fallen Records Presents "Top Tracks", our weekly contest for military artists. It's easy to vote. Just click the link below, or any track name, and you'll be taken to this week's Top 5 Tracks where you can vote for your favorite. Click on the picture and you'll be taken to the artist's MySpace page, if they have one. The winner has a great chance to be on our next CD and will be featured on all of our sites for the following week...so let's talk about this week's tracks:

Track 1: "Sunbeam" by Corrin Campbell and the Election

I like this track. It starts off very strong and busts in with some killer guitar riffs. Corrin has an incredible voice and I like how she starts off rather shyly and soft and then really picks it up by the first chorus. I like the metaphor of "breaking these brick walls down" for someone breaking through to her inner self, which she obviously keeps on lock down. This is most likely due to all those bastards who broke her heart previously! At least they led to some good music and maybe when she's wealthy beyond all means she can shove it back in their faces. Isn't that what we all want to do? The music is really killer. Overall a pretty good track.

VOTE HERE!

Track 2: "Let's Play" by Michael Scarlett

TTFR doesn't always get down with R&B as we prefer to deal with Country, Hip Hop and Rock, but I like this song by Michael Scarlett. The beat is hot and his voice is really nice to listen to. The chorus is really well done and the story he tells is simple enough to understand. Michael Scarlett is a great singer and has a ton of potential. I could definitely see this on one of our CDs. For now, I'll just keep this song on loop in the bedroom!

VOTE HERE!

Track 3: "Caravan" by the Major Parsons Project

This is an excellent track all around. The lyrics, music, sequencing, and the chorus are all incredible. I absolutely love the chorus and it is catchy as hell, even though I can't understand the latter choruses as he busts into Spanglish later on in the song. Damn you 5 years of high school Spanish! You taught me nothing! At around 2:20 the music bangs out some new sounds that keep you hooked until the end of the track. I love this track.

VOTE HERE!

Track 4: "One of Those Days" by Cyrus

Cyrus is an incredible lyricist. His story starts off really strong with a really detailed description of the protagonist in his track. I think we (military) can definitely relate to the first verse where it is really hard to leave your family. The next verse takes us through the experience of being a military spouse...the non-stop praying and hoping that your husband makes it back. "Bypassing rough patches like cactuses" says it all. The last verse details the protagonist rolling out on a convey, gets ambushed and on his way out his vehicle gets hit with an IED. Based on overtones and foreshadowing in the previous verses, you know that he doesn't make it back alive. Overall, a great track by one of the Army's elite hip hop artists.

VOTE HERE!

Track 5: "Iron in the Fire" by Sean Bennett

Sean hits us with a great country track that details the life of an old, married couple. He tells us their story, telling us intricate details about their lives and their relationship. "They were crazy old lovers with nothing left to prove" says it all. He sits back and admires them from a distance while telling their story. "One love will do" is the message. His love for her is so strong that he'd "Walk her all the way to heaven" and one can infer that he does so at the end of the song.

VOTE HERE!

Well, that does it for this week. Feel free to give your comments on each song as well. The artists and TTFR will definitely appreciate any praise or constructive criticism you give.

Remember, these artists are people too, so I'd ask you personally not to be mean because that doesn't do anyone any good, but offer some advice and tell us what you liked and didn't like about each track as a fan of music.

Thanks for your time and we hope you enjoy this weekly contest. Thanks to all 150 artists who submitted music for this week. Hopefully you'll get your chance next week!

V/R,

Sean Gilfillan
CEO
To The Fallen Records
www.ToTheFallenRecords.com
www.myspace.com/tothefallenrecords
TTFR Facebook Page


VOTE HERE!

To the Fallen Records: Band of Brothers: A new American record label offers soldiers and veterans a launch pad for musical success

Click Here to Read the Article from the Sunday Times (UK)

Featured Artist Blog: Silence Betrayed

Written By Mikey C.

The military was never really an option for me. My father never served and I never knew my grandfathers, so there wasn’t any pressure there. I grew up in the valleys of Pennsylvania, so there were no nearby bases or helicopters flying overhead to influence me either. In fact, I had no idea what USMC stood for when my good friends proudly came to class one Monday morning wearing new dark green T-shirts. I was a selfish teen who wanted to be a rock star. College? Yeah, right. I knew what I wanted to do, and I had spent every minute of class and every evening at home working on it. Silence Betrayed... my concept of what a rock band should be.

But 9/11 had a big impact on this 17-year-old who was previously incognizant to the world around him. I was just a kid, and those cowardly attacks on American soil ignited a patriotic spirit that I never knew I had. Suddenly, those four simple letters had all the meaning in the world: United States Marine Corps.

I was a bulldog in the Corps, "Gung-Ho!" all the way. My first three years were a blur of green-on-green and gun smoke. As a matter of fact, I don’t think I ever stopped to take a breath. There was just too much to absorb—different cultures, new lands, education and adventure. I became good at things I never realized I would enjoy. Having spent those first three years oversees and obtaining the rank of Sergeant, I eventually made it back to home turf and settled at Camp Pendleton, California. Without loosing any momentum, I began the pre-deployment phase for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Six months later, I was in the desert.

The first hook in years came to me out of nowhere: "Did you find what you were looking for?” Music had almost evaporated from my vocabulary. But there, in the middle of Falujah, I was getting a slightly familiar urge to pick up a guitar...so I did. Lyrics and riffs just started pouring out, and the only thing getting me through each day was the chance to play another lick. I spent all my free time writing and researching, getting back in touch with a passion I thought was forgotten. The base MWR even had a few instruments for recreation, and it was a blessing. When work was slow I was on the computers researching the San Diego music scene. Thoughts of re-enlistment and my next duty station were now replaced with visions of recording and touring. By the time we made it out of there, I was a new man. Grown and disciplined, reunited with a dream.

The band came together fast. I had recorded a demo, auditioned members, and completed our line up by the end of that year. We released our debut EP "Lascivious" the following spring, and have been promoting and touring ever since. Shortly after the release, we discovered To The Fallen and submitted a few songs. The label responded well to the tracks and featured our single "Contain" on their Rock Vol. 1 compilation. They have been a great outlet for military musicians, including myself and Silence Betrayed.

This year has treated us well: performing live, winning a battle of the bands, and launching our website, SilenceBetrayed.com. We have made some great connections, and are starting to get the exposure we need to really make a name for ourselves. We have even begun playing free shows at the enlisted club on Camp Pendleton, just to reconnect with some old friends.

I think its safe to say that none of it would have been possible without the drive and initiative instilled in me while serving in the military. Those were some of the best years of my life, which I will always cherish and never regret, but now it is time for a new adventure, and it has only just begun.

The Sound of Veterans Day

By Sean Gilfillan

For most of the world's record companies, even though it is Veterans Day, Tuesday, November 11th is just another day. Major labels release albums on Tuesdays, so they'll be busy trying to make sure the big holiday releases that are coming out that day are "moving units", as is parlance. However, as an Iraq War veteran and the co-founder of the world's only military record label, every day we exist is a day in which we pay homage to those who serve their country.

And this Veterans Day is no different.

Today, To the Fallen Records is announcing a Veterans Day partnership with Veterans For America, where sales of our music will contribute to their work.

Veterans for America is a non-partisan group founded in 1980 by Vietnam veteran Bobby Muller. VFA's primary mission is to ensure that our country meets the needs of servicemembers and veterans who have served in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). VFA focuses specifically on the signature wounds of these conflicts: psychological traumas and traumatic brain injuries. You can find out more about VFA here.

Our entire purpose is to bridge the gap between those that serve and their counterparts in the civilian world. We are at a time in our nation's history where only 9% of the population is serving or has ever served, but more and more of these veterans are returning home with psychological and physical wounds that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Through music, we offer the listener a rare glimpse into the military lifestyle, war and the camaraderie that exists between servicemembers. Through our company, we hope to chip in to help returning soldiers with the difficult transition to life at home and to help protect them from the strain of multiple deployments with inadequate dwell time, two of VFA's signature areas.

Just as our artists have given us great music to listen to and share since we started the label upon my return from Iraq, we are now using this music to help the hundreds of thousands of returning troops who face a host of struggles upon returning home.

So, I invite you to check out what we do and honor our veterans by listening to a few of them sing or rap about their experiences and perhaps contribute to an easier adjustment for thousands of others.

Either way, please join me in taking a second to note that Veterans Day isn't just a day some people get off work or have a day off from school. Our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan don't have the day off and those facing a difficult readjustment don't get the day off from the mental and physical wounds of war.

While we will always remember the fallen on this day, we must never forget those that still remain among us.

Today please call up every veteran you know to thank them for their service.

The Department of Defense

As I was browsing my favorites, I thought I'd stop by and drop some news on everyones favorite military only record label.

Soldier Hard and myself (Dego), both sergeants in the Army and Marines, respectively, recently came together to work on some new music under the name DoD.

It's been coming along pretty well. We're gaining a good following and I'm overall pleased with the music we've been banging out. It all has come so easy, so natural. If you love a good war story, deployment story, or just dig dope music, then this is likely for you. As cliche as it sounds, our music is from the heart and we enjoy listening to it as much as we do making it.

We're in the early stages of planning a tour, but we're looking to hit every major military town in the country. If you'd like to sponsor the tour please hit either of the links below, or I'm sure TTFR can plug you through.

You can check our stuff out at www.myspace.com/dodmusic1 and www.nonstopheat.com.

Thanks, world.

HuffPost Blog: The Soundtrack of War: Music by American Servicemembers and Veterans

New Huffington Post Blog Ladies and Gents...read it and weep...

Sand Hills to Sandals by TTFR Featured Artist Stephen Covell

Featured Artist Blog: Stephen Covell

Music is community. It is the great connective force, along with love and family, which bind our species together. When I made the decision to join the Army two years ago I knew that I'd be giving up most of what I'd worked so hard to build since I started performing. The fans, the shows, the freedom, the recognition… all of it would slowly fade into boots, dust and sleepless nights. It was scary in a way, but there was a part of me that felt like I didn't deserve the spot light just yet. I remember my exact thought was that I hadn't paid my dues.

At 23, I was still a kid in most respects: irresponsible, impulsive and very vain. I grew up in an affluent community and though I wouldn't call my family rich, I never wanted for anything. I had excelled at sports since childhood, made friends easily where ever I went, and traveled all around the States and Europe. However, I also dropped out of college twice and was working as a valet at a hotel in downtown Monterey, CA. Day after day I saw my life slipping into a haze of bi-monthly pay checks and beers at the bar after work. Life was easy and I was lazy. I needed a push.

Part of me knew I'd hate the Army. I hate being told what to do and getting up early and I attest being dirty. But I knew that if I had something in my life to fight against I would gain a clearer picture of what I wanted to do with the rest of it. I thought for months about whether or not it was really the right path for me. Finally, in February of 2006, I took the first step and signed on the line and shipped off to Fort Jackson, SC.

Something in me changed in those first few weeks, and it had nothing to do with the drill sergeants or the routine or missing my family. I realized I couldn't live without music. I literally ached for my guitar. Everything I'd been thinking was wrong. It wasn't important if I was special or some superstar in the making, it was that I needed to share with others whatever it is inside me that drives me to create.

I needed that community and TTFR is helping me rebuild what I had given up. Imagine, people who recognize that soldiers aren't just numbers, that we were normal people with dreams and talent before we joined. We continue to dream even in the middle of the desert, thousands of miles from anything familiar. Soldiers come from all walks of life and join for all sorts of reasons; what better way to honor our service then to encourage our creativity and help share it with the world?

My first two releases "Perfect Parade" and "Short and Sweet" were recorded while I was at the University of Arizona right before I went to basic training. I think my newer music reflects how I've grown since becoming a soldier but still retains the playfulness that has never left my personality (shhh don't tell anybody). A few months ago I made a video for "Sand Hills to Sandals" from my barracks room at Fort Bragg. It may be the only song I ever write about the time I spent in Iraq and what it was like to come back home because I've never been one to mix business with pleasure. Maybe it will help people understand what its like if they have friends or loved ones deployed. If something positive can come out of the sadness that so many have had to face then I think it will have been the right thing to do.

So what's next? I'm one deployment down with another on the way. If I've learned anything it's that life is precious, and if you don't take advantage of the gifts you're given every day you'll look back a few years down the road and see a lot of wasted time. I know that wont be me. I may have taken a different direction that I'd expected but really, what are a few years of service when you gain so many rich experiences and memories? I look forward to the day when I can personally shake hand of the guys behind the emails, Sean and Mason and the rest of the team. They've given me such an awesome opportunity to feel like I'm still in the game even when I'm knee deep in the mud. But they know, they've been there and that's what community is all about. Sharing, growing and helping each other out… it's kind of like family.


Taken during training at JRTC at Fort Polk, LA this summer.

To The Fallen Records: Feature in the London Observer

'My whole body was numb. I got up and limped towards the Humvee. A colleague was circling with blood dripping from his face. I shouted but he didn't react and I really thought I was a ghost. I thought I was dead.' In the mangled wreckage lay the body of his best friend. 'I didn't know there was anyone back there. He wasn't meant to be there.' They were both rushed back to the base and Dobbins remembers fighting off the doctors who were trying to give him morphine, desperate to know of Rojas's fate. 'I guess he died slightly after midnight.'



With his friend gone and the memories still raw, Dobbins picked up his guitar and started playing, releasing his emotions, grieving. At that time he thought about something his godmother had said when he was in his teens and struggling to cope with problems in his family: 'People need music; it helps you get through your day.'

Check out the rest of the article here

I started TTFR over a year ago and I am so proud of the way each of our artists open up to the media. I think it's extremely good for them to get their feelings and emotions out. Every time I read an article or watch one of their videos I am reminded why we continue to go on.

For those that don't know, To The Fallen Records is the world's only military record label. We don't make any money. Our artists are not on MTV or CMT. However, the purpose of the label isn't to do either.

Our mission is to connect the civilian population directly to the service members in the military.

Too often we only hear from politicians and high-ranking generals. Only 9% of the entire country is now currently serving or is a veteran. That leaves over 91% of the public who don't know what it feels like to serve your country. Now they can hear directly from the military members themselves through an unfiltered medium we all can understand and appreciate....music.

The label itself is non-partisan. As long as the music is great we'll put it on a CD. With the military being the microcosm that it is, you will hear music on a range of issues and topics with various viewpoints. Similar to how NWA took you on a tour of Compton and country music opened your eyes to rural America, To The Fallen Records will open your eyes to the military lifestyle.

Also check out these two videos the Observer staff did with two of the artists:

Josh Revak's Interview

Isaiah Santopoalo's Interview

To support these military music artists or to hear more of their music, please visit us at:

To The Fallen Records.com

Thanks for your time.

To The Fallen: Sgt. Isaiah Santopoalo interviewed by the London Observer

Check out this interview the Observer did with Isaiah aka 1/2 of the Lifers.

Keni Thomas At #5 on GAC Top 20 Country Countdown!

We’re got some exciting news to share! Keni Thomas’s new single, “Shreveport 2 LA,” from his upcoming album Gunslinger is perched in the Top 5 of Great American Country’s Top 20 Country Countdown Show! GAC is in 54 million homes nationwide. The video has been on the chart for six consecutive weeks in the Top 20, and it’s all fan voted. It’s an incredible feat as Keni is the ONLY independent artist on the chart included with some of country’s biggest stars. Keni’s team is very proud of what has been accomplished and we need your help to climb the chart to #1! Just go to GACtv.com, ON TV, Top 20, Vote! Or click on this link http://www.gactv.com/gac/pac_ctnt/text/0,,GAC_26058_46507,0.html?pageType=error

You can vote once a day, every day. The new chart position is announced on Fridays.

As you know, Keni is featured on TTFR’s country compilation disc which was released last year. Keni is a former Army Ranger. He fought in the battle of Somalia and was awarded a Bronze Star for Valor for his efforts. Keni will be headed back to the Middle East this December to entertain the troops on the USO’s “Hope & Freedom” Holiday tour.

Thanks for your help! You are appreciated
Claire Cook
Manager
Myspace.com/kenithomas
Myspace.com/ccookmedia
Www.kenithomas.com

Check out Sean Gilfillan on "The Hour"