The Pink Logs have found a new friend with Estonian Dance artist, N-Euro. While taking a break from recording his new album, N-Euro and The Pink Logs bonded and both found a friend in Toby (in full Underdog costume). Toby enjoyed their company so much that he grew a mohawk full of Pink Logs just like N-Euro. A Pink Log's best friend, without a doubt!

Gary Gorman

Gary Gorman - National Director - Rock/Alternative, Atlantic Records

Please give a brief overview of your career so far.

I always think of it as starting while I was still in school.  Ithaca College (in western NY) had a satellite program based in Burbank which I attended during their first semester of my senior year.  I interned for Jay Harding and Steve Tipp in the Reprise Records College/Alt. Department.  My internship at Reprise helped land me a gig at Fort Apache in Boston at the helm of their College Radio dept. Two years later, I was running College/Metal promotion for Atlantic Records in NY.  After a cup of coffee, I was shipped to Pittsburgh for regional duties, before returning to New York to pick up the position there.  A little over a year ago, I relocated to LA to take over Rock/Alternative National duties for West Coast based Atlantic Records.  It's my ten year anniversary at Atlantic in May.

Describe the first record you ever promoted and the results.

Speedball Baby.  We were #1 most added.  I think it went Top 10 on the college CMJ charts.  It was pretty thrilling.

Name one of the biggest changes in the industry since you started.

I'm going to have to take file-sharing for $500, Alex. 

With all of the avenues to discover new music, which way do you feel is
most effective to date?  

I'm really lucky that I get to live in a city that has a lot of great terrestrial radio outlets for new music.  Indie 103.1 and KCRW (both in Los Angeles) are fantastic in that regard.  I really dig what Rich Mclaughlin does with his "Left Of Center" channel on Sirius Satellite radio too.  Otherwise it's Stereogum, Pitchfork, or even iTunes. 

What are some of the roadblocks that you experience today with radio
that weren't a factor 5 years ago?  

I would tell you but I'd have to fill out too many forms.

Name three bands that you thought were a slam dunk, but radio, or the
public for that matter, just didn't bite.  

This happens all the time...Hard Fi, Billy Talent & Matthew Good come to mind.  They are huge internationally, just couldn't get a spark in the states.

Out of all the artists you have ever worked with, who has the most fun
and why?

I work with a lot of really great people.  I suppose one has to say Kid Rock.  Louis XIV is a blast.  Rob Thomas continues to be one of my favorite people out there.  Why?  Why do you think?

Where do you see yourself in the near-future, in this industry?  

I know that I'll be in Sacramento, San Francisco, San Jose, Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson in the next 5 days.  Does that count?

Do you have any advice for someone starting out in the business, with
goals of working at a label?  

Yes, go to school for about 2-3 more years.  We should have s*** straightened out by then.

Random Question Time
What did you give up for New Years?  Patterns.
NY subway or LA traffic: What's wrong with the NY subway?  You know what sucks: LA drivers.  Seriously.  The worst.
Guilty pleasure song:  Fall Out Boy "Don't You Know Who I Think I Am."   
Text or email: Text
Trimmed or shaved: Both.

Skybombers "Always Complaining" (Alberts)

Melbourne, Australia's Skybombers are one of the strongest and most consistent new rock bands to emerge from Down Under (or anywhere else in the world, for that matter) in the past decade. The four-piece is a band with enormous global potential, which makes it no surprise as to why Alberts (home to AC/DC...one of the biggest selling rock bands in the world) inked these talented lads immediately. Skybombers have recorded a brand-new album which has been touted by some music pundits as the Nevermind of today's generation. It's sheer rock brilliance from start to finish and is one of the best rock albums to be recorded in the past decade! Legendary US manager Ron Stone, President and Co-Founder Gold Mountain Entertainment, took on duties for the band after seeing them only once--same with Val Wolfe, The Agency Group (Worldwide) and Steve Schnur, Worldwide Head of Music, EA Games, who licensed the band's music after one listen. Skybombers' live show is sensational! The band is currently available for worldwide signing/licensing (ex-Australia & New Zealand), and take it from the A&R Worldwide staff who tipped you off first (pre-signing) to Keane, Missy Higgins, Dido and many other multi-Platinum acts--Skybombers has the potential to be in synch with Nirvana in regards to its impact and influence on today's young rock generation. Skybombers will headline this year's MUSEXPO on Wednesday, April 30, 2008 at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd. The band has racked up hundreds of plays on US commercial radio with no label support and has also been added to Australia's national youth radio network radio station Triple J. They will be opening up for Foo Fighters and Jimmy Eat World on dates in Australia and New Zealand.

Happy Birthday to you!

In the day and age of instant messaging, texting and online conversations, the letters LMFAO are an understood acronym for Laugh My F (insert your favorite "f" word) Ass Off. The band LMFAO will entertain you and at least make you laugh. Last year, the uncle-nephew duo consisted of Red Foo & Sky Blu, were heading to the Winter Music Conference in Miami. They wanted to find a way to get their music to the masses, so they created a mixtape. On that mixtape was the song "I'm in Miami Bitch." Not only did the song catch on like the latest dance craze but it built such a buzz for the band that they started seeing an increase on their web pages, more people asking to buy their music and even more people at their shows, including fans Paris Hilton and Lil' Kim. One year later, the video was created. This video is so wild that initially it was banned from YouTube. Think of the wildest Spring Break you've ever had and then raise the bar, that's exactly what LMFAO did. Warning, there is partial nudity and foul language involved, but we're all adults here, right? To check out more Nu-80s music by LMFAO and their infamous "dailies" log on to www.myspace.com/lmfaouno.

"MORNING" IN AMERICA: The act that many are hailing as "America's best rock & roll band" has ascended to the top slot of the Mediaguide Alternative Specialty Song chart. Louisville, Kentucky natives My Morning Jacket now rule the roost with the engagingly titled "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Part II," from their forthcoming full-length Evil Urges (ATO)--which itself bows at No.2 on the Album end. The group drew raves for their SXSW show, in which eight new songs from the album were introduced to the delirious audience (the entire show is archived at www.npr.org). They won further kudos with a scintillating set at Coachella on Sunday and will be returning to their native neck of the woods for Bonnaroo this year, along with shows scheduled for Radio City Music Hall and Red Rocks. Meanwhile, another act that played Coachella this past weekend debuts in the top spot of the Album index: Portishead, who performed just before Prince on Saturday, barely beat out My Morning Jacket with their album Third (Mercury/IslandÉas an aside, guess how many prior releases they've had?). Their top position on the Song side is "Machine Gun" at No.17, indicating that the Specialty Panel has been goin' deep with the album. Other top debuts on the Song chart this week include The Young Knives at No.6 with "Up All Night," helping full-length Superabundance (Transgressive/Rykodisc) to a No.8 showing on the Album end. Meanwhile, longtime Alterna-faves Weezer debut on the Song side at No.7 with "Pork and Beans" (Geffen), while up-and-coming songstress Santogold, who also played Coachella, debuts on the Song chart at No.9 with "L.E.S. Artistes" (Downtown), helping her self-titled full-length to a No.10 position on the Album index.