MTV Artist To Watch: The Ceremonies

Posted 10/7/13 6:00 am EST by Rachel Brodsky in Celebrity, Live Performances, MTV Featured Artist, Music, Must See, Videos

Meet your latest rock/new wave obsession: Los Angeles brother trio The Ceremonies.

Let's just get one thing out of the way: Matthew Cook, the leader singer of Los Angeles rock/pop/new wave outfit The Ceremonies, is a dead ringer for The Doors' Jim Morrison. And we're not just referring to his tight, fitted pants (rawr), strategically unbuttoned shirt, pensive stare, necklace chains, and brown, floppy hair. (Again, rawr.)

And here's where being an English major comes in handy! As self-proclaimed art and literature fans, The Ceremonies cite influences like British futurist writer Aldous Huxley and British poet, painter, and printmaker William Blake. And who else liked to reference / borrowed their name from Huxley and Blake's favorite phrase, "the doors of perception"? Yep... The Doors!

But! Unlike The Doors' trademark bluesy/psychedelic rock sound, The Ceremonies' jangly vibe is teeming with upbeat earworm melodies, pastoral, Fleet Foxes-esque harmonies, a smattering of horns, and twinkling synths.

Read more about The Ceremonies after the jump.

Consisting of brothers Matthew, Michael, and Mark Cook (Matthew is the oldest; Mark and Michael are twins), The Ceremonies got their start when Matthew heard '80s post-punkersEcho & The Bunnymen's take on The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love." After that, Matthew was a goner. He quickly spread the post-punk gospel to his younger brothers, and the three formed The Ceremonies while Michael and Mark were still in high school. (That's what you call dedication, aspiring musicians.)

Though they currently have a solid collection of singles out (their rollicking debut "Land Of Gathering" chief among them), the brothers are currently hard at work prepping their debut EP, which they self-produced with the help of Danny Garibay.

While you wait, though, you could get familiar with The Ceremonies by listening to "Land Of Gathering," an uptempo, sunshiny track that kinda sounds like The Strokes having a field day picnic with pastoral harmonizers Fleet Foxes. OR you could watch the track's video, which looks like a straight-up cartoon homage to "The Phantom Tollbooth" and/or "Peter Pan."

Even more impressive is the brothers' ability to diversify their sound on "Ballroom Bones," which starts off slow and echoing, but quickly intensifies with pounding percussion, rhythmic falsetto chanting, finger snaps, and eerie xylophone. Think: a cross between The Cure, the band's beloved Echo & The Bunnymen, early Kings Of Leon, and -- OK, fine -- The Doors.

So, what's next for MTV's Artist To Watch (other than releasing their highly anticipated EP)? The Ceremonies are hitting the road this fall to support The Fratellis, with their tour kicking off in NYC on Nov. 1 and concluding Nov. 12 in L.A. Look out for The Ceremonies' debut EP, dropping this fall via Atom Factory Music/Capitol Music Group!

+ Download The Ceremonies' "Land Of Gathering."

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Lady Gaga, Eminem, and Arcade Fire will join other top artists and some of YouTube’s biggest stars including Lindsey Stirling and CDZA in performances and musical collaborations from Seoul, Moscow, London and Rio, culminating in a live event in New York City. Music-video visionary Spike Jonze will be the creative director and acclaimed actor Jason Schwartzman will host with VICE and Sunset Lane Entertainment acting as executive producers.

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October 4th, 2013 at 8:30 PM PDT at Fonda Theatre | Los Angeles, CA

Stream Moby LIVE in concert performing with special guests Skylar Grey and Damien Jurado from the Fonda Theatre on October 4th, 2013 at 8:30pm PDT. This is the third night of a run of three very special live shows at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles to debut NEW songs off of Moby's upcoming album, 'Innocents', out on September, 30.

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Wendell Pierce Sparks New Michael J. Fox Sitcom

English: Wendell Pierce in January 2007. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

NEW YORK September 24, 2013 (AP)

By FRAZIER MOORE AP Television Writer 

 

 "I've always wanted one thing," says Wendell Pierce. "To have a diverse career, to be a journeyman actor."

Mission accomplished this fall. With no fewer than four projects in release, Pierce will meet himself coming.

Earlier this month, he made his latest appearance in a recurring role on the USA law drama "Suits."

He has a new film opening, an edgy indie drama titled "Four" wherein he plays a family man who keeps his homosexuality secret while he hooks up harmfully with a teenage boy through an online dating site.

In December, he returns as fancy-free jazz trombonist Antoine Batiste on HBO's glorious New Orleans series "Treme," airing its final season.

And that's all on top of Pierce's dandy new role on "The Michael J. Fox Show," which premieres on NBC Thursday at 9 p.m. EDT in a special hour-long edition.

"This," Pierce sums up proudly, "is the diversity I always wanted."

On the new comedy, Pierce summons his rascally charm to play Harris Green, news director of a New York TV station and longtime pal of former anchor Mike Henry, played by Fox.

Mirroring Fox's own real-life plight, Mike suffers from Parkinson's disease, but, after several years retired from the anchor desk at home with his family, he is persuaded by Harris to return to work (just as Fox is returning to full-time acting after a dozen years of limited performances).

Even though Harris sees Mike as his meal ticket ("Guaranteed ratings!" he crows when Mike agrees to come back), they are truly friends, and, reflecting that, Pierce and Fox have forged a chemistry that pops on screen.

At one point, Mike needles Harris about his resistance to settling down with a woman and being a dad.

"Thirty years of lovemaking, not even one slip!" boasts Harris. "Not even a scare."

"Maybe you're doing it wrong," Mike offers.

"It's like this — right?" jokes Harris, deadpan, demonstrating with his index finger passing just outside, not within, the circle formed by his other index finger and thumb.

It's a delightful bit of comic business, which Pierce says he and Fox invented on the spot.

"Michael has a really wonderful sense of timing, and he's really authentic," reports Pierce. "We'll do a take and I'll say, 'Ah, I feel like I'm in a vacuum.' And he'll say, 'I like working that way! Stay in the moment and the moment will inform you.'

"Michael has helped remind me of that: You create all those memories that in your real life you take for granted. In your heart and your mind, you create a world for your character so strong that it INDUCES your character's behavior."

Pierce had been filming that morning, but, unexpectedly granted the afternoon off, he has joined a reporter at a sidewalk cafe on Manhattan's Upper West Side where, clad in a polo shirt, chinos and sandals with black socks, he nurses a beer in the late-September chill.

Spending time with him bears out the unifying nature of his diverse roles: He's a guy you like hanging with. With a full frame, a broad sweet face and a mischievous magnetism, he's good company.

Consider the role for which he is perhaps best known: as Bunk Moreland, the dapper, dry-witted detective on HBO's epic urban drama "The Wire." A series with dense storylines and grim twists, it was given its essential heart in large part thanks to Bunk's partnership with Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West).

Pierce even infuses with intermittent charm his character in "Four," a somber drama about living a lie and the damage that results.

"I'll answer the question that you really want to ask," he chuckles when the film is broached: "WHY? Why did you do it?"

He explains he had seen the play and admired it, then was "shocked" when he was asked to play a role in the film so far outside his norm.

"The character explores the ripple effect of abhorrent behavior," he says. "As an actor you're always a student of human behavior, and to study this sort of behavior is why I took the role."

Pierce, who turns 50 in December, got into acting as a youngster growing up in New Orleans. He attended a theater camp at the University of New Orleans, and liked it, then enrolled at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. Then he headed to New York and Juilliard to further hone his technique (including a speaking voice that, in its full come-hither mode, could rival Barry White's).

But Pierce has never lost touch with his home town, helping spearhead projects that include a redevelopment effort to build new homes and a chain of quality supermarkets in neighborhoods that need the nutrition as well as the jobs.

And through it all, he has forged an acting career he is proud of — especially this fall, he says, toasting himself with a sip of his beer.

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Online:

www.nbc.com

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EDITOR'S NOTE — Frazier Moore is a national television columnist for The Associated Press. He can be reached at fmoore@ap.org and at http://www.twitter.com/tvfrazier.

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