The Foreign Tides

The Foreign Tides’ garage-rock ethos is germinating in New York City’s concrete cracks from Wall Street to the Upper East. Their recent splash of catchy singles—Wall Street, Chump, and their accompanying B-Sides—show Nick Hoge and Joe Watson continuing to build on their fetching flux of garage fused rock, pop, blues, and soul they showed on their 2011 Animals EP.

If you like your rock and roll with no frills, surf what this duo is throwing down before their waves get crowded like the city streets they roam. - BandSoup

Smile has a great feel to it,it diverges all your attention as soon as you click the play button,the little blues & soul that they put into work in their basic rock genre is mind blowing plus the artwork ! - Ears To Good Night

If you like a little soul and blues in your rock and roll (we do) then you’re gonna be into The Foreign Tides. With that said, there’s no “influence wanking” or distasteful superfluous type shit that often comes with the territory of the self consciously soul/blues influenced. “Smile” has great feel, great guitar tones (love those tinges of reverb) but it’s also a really solid tune. The Tides definitely have the melodic chops (in addition to the great musicianship, etc) to be a breakout band in not only this genre but beyond. Get in on the ground floor with this awesome young band. - Blah Blah Blah Science music blog

Welcome to our new feature, the Weekly Download! Rather than confuse you with five weekdays worth of random tracks, we are now featuring all of those complely free and legal tracks sent to us by the artists themselves for download once a week, albeit more all at once! We hope you enjoy our weekly submissions.

We chose these songs for you to discover, download and explore more about the artists behind them. Please support the artists by visiting their artist links next to each of the MP3s.

The Foreign Tides – Daddy’s Girl - Music Under Fire

Every weekday, MUF offers five (5) daily downloads of free and legal MP3s. We chose these songs for you to discover, download and explore more about the artists behind them.
The Foreign Tides: Austin and May - Music Under Fire

This is where we're at tonight. Friends and family of illrapper in the highest regard. Follow suit if you wanna be cool, though I suggest buying tickets in advance for $10, rather than $20 at the door. I'll say this, watching these guys come up has been a pleasure. - alivenotdead.com

Big, classic music from an upstart rock & roll band in New York right now playing the circuit. Nice to hear guys still making shit like this. No gimmicks. Well the bass player and drummer Andrew and Chris are twins so no gimmicks besides that, ha. Just caught their EP release party and show at Drom Saturday night. More cool stuff on the way from these guys so get familiar.

Download the EP Animals in full on their bandcamp here. Listen to one of my favorite joints, "Stay Alive." - T-Shirt (illrapper.com)

Junior’s Cave Golden Isles Online Magazine knows great music and The Grand is certainly great music from an amazing band. We are proud to feature this band in our monthly spotlight series. In this special interview with our publication, we speak to The Grand about several matters concerning their music. Here is what developed from our online conversation.

Isaac: It’s an amazing time to be a DIY artist/performer/band/musician. What do you feel you contribute musically to the Indie Music Culture?

The Grand: We try to write the best songs we know how to and we have a strong work ethic as a band to keep pushing ourselves. In terms of contributing to indie music culture, not a lot of people have listened to our stuff yet, but when they do, I hope they feel the same energy that we do when we play the songs.

Isaac: If you had an opportunity to sign with a major label, would you sign now knowing you may have to give up some of what you have built up over the years about you in the process?

The Grand: The music industry is changing so much every day, so in a way major labels aren't as important as they used to be. There are so many resources on the Internet to help upcoming artists market their work, that often times you can get a lot done yourself. On the flip side, having a whole team of marketing people and staff that come with signing with a label is also really helpful to a career if it's done correctly. We would never sign with a label that wanted to change the way we make music, I think it makes sense to go with someone who wants to develop what you've already got rather than change it.

Isaac: I remembered Simon Cowell from American Idol talking about the “it” Factor that makes a musician/band stand out. What do you think is your “it” factor that makes you stand out from others in the music business?

The Grand: Simon Cowell, huh. I don't watch American Idol, but of course I know who Simon Cowell is. I think if you have an "it" factor, you don't know what it is. Any artist that's aware of their "it" factor, well, they don't have that it factor then.

Isaac: One of the important elements that will make you stand out from the rest of the musicians/artists in the music industry?

The Grand: Probably our really tight jeans. I'd like to think that if you're a musician at heart you hope that the main thing that makes you stand out are the songs you write and the quality by which you perform them. I know in the music industry there is so much other stuff that goes into standing out (gossip, scandals, outfits etc.) but if you become popular for all that other stuff, it can't be that rewarding in the long run.

Isaac: Do you feel you have given it your best when pursuing your musical dreams so far? Why or why not?

The Grand: We're just starting out so all I can say is that we're always gonna work hard as a band to make the best music we can.

Isaac: Who do you look up to for your own influences and why?

The Grand: As individuals, we listen to so much stuff across the board. Everything from Folk to Hip Hop. That's what makes the collaboration interesting, everyone comes in with their ideas and molded together it becomes our sound.

Isaac: Do you feel that Indie music gets the respect it deserves? Why or why not?

The Grand: Yeah, I do. Like I said before, there are so many resources now for independent artists to develop their music and careers. It's proof that people respect Independent music and want to support it.

Isaac: If you could change one thing about the music business, what would it be and why?

The Grand: I think things are changing back a little bit, slowly, to where they were - popular new bands are actually playing real instruments. So much of the climate now is bands that are getting on stage and pushing buttons and performing with intricate backing tracks. Nothing against those bands at all, but if it's at the expense of groups that actually get up there and play music with real instruments than that's really too bad. I think we're slowly moving away from it with new popular bands like Mumford and Sons, The Vaccines, etc. who get up and actually play guitars and drums live.

Isaac: What has been one of your biggest setbacks and how did you overcome it? What lesson did you learn about yourself?

The Grand: What was challenging at the beginning was finding a group of guys to be in a band that had a similar sense of the music they wanted to make and who were also good people to be around. Finding that fit wasn't easy but what we ended up with was so good that it was worth the struggle.
Isaac: What type of feedback have you been receiving about your music from fans and music critics?

The Grand: We played our fourth show last week, so we're pretty green, but a few blogs have had some nice things to say and your friends always tell you that they liked the show, even if they didn't.

Isaac: If you knew that you would never gain fame and fortune with what you are doing now, would you continue to make music? Explain.

The Grand: Yes. If you're doing something for fame and fortune than you don't really love it and you won't be happy even if you end up getting famous. We definitely have goals as a band and we're competitive and we want to reach the top, but it's because we love playing and we believe in the music we're making.

Isaac: How do you handle negative feedback or negative energy about your music?

The Grand: It's art you're making, so its reception is subjective to each person. Constructive criticism from people you trust and whose opinion you value is important. But if you start listening to everybody's thoughts about your music, good or bad, you get lost.

Isaac: What role do your family and friends play in your pursuit of a music career?

The Grand: I think I can speak for the rest of the guys and say that we all have support from family and it's nice to have that stamp of approval.

Isaac: What is the best site/s that you can be found on the Internet?

The Grand:

http://www.myspace.com/thegrandnyny
http://www.facebook.com/thegrandmusic

Isaac: The floor is yours; final words of wisdom or thoughts...

The Grand: Thanks for having us. - Junior's Cave Online Magazine

We saw this new and up-and-coming band The Grand at the Lakeside Lounge in the East Village last night. Nick Hoge – Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar, Joe Watson – Lead Guitar, Andrew Tryfonos – Drums, Christopher Tryfonos – Bass
If you like some honest, originally written, hard-hitting and soul-pulsing rock, check them out. - Photographer Cornelis Verwaal's blog

Make sure to come by the Ace Of Clubs this Saturday night and check out The Grand, a popular and up and coming Indie Rock band delivering a great sound. - Fashion/music blogger Darvin Silva