The Maine is an alt-rock band from Tempe, Arizona. In two short years The Maine has managed to have sold out concerts and be on the front pages of magazines such as AP (Alternative Press Magazine) and Substreem . Their first album Cant Stop, Wont Stop  has been re-released with new songs and videos which you can find on iTunes’s or any electronic store. They also have two EPs including  their cover of Akon’s “Wanna Love You”.

The five member band is made up of lead singer John O’Callaghan, lead guitarist Jared Monaco, Pat Kirch on drums, Kennedy Brock guitar and vocals and Garret Nickelsen playing Bass. At first John O was really scared performing in front of people then he over came his fears and look  at him now! As for how The Maine originally formed their band it was the incredible work of Pat Kirch. Their major influences are Third Eye Blind, Death Cab for  Cutie and Ivory. The song “Coast of the Maine” by Ivory was the where they got their name. 

Their hit songs are “Into Your Arms” and “Everything You Ask For”. The band writes all their own songs putting their heart into their music. Although the songs seems like they're about girls  in an interview John O said their songs are more about going through life and experience and going in and out of relationships. When listening I know their music touches many hearts because the sound and the lyrics are amazing. The Maine is currently on tour through November, 2009. If you’re a fan go see them live! I recently went to see them play in San Francisco, they are amazing, their chemistry and energy on stage is outstanding. The Maine sounds just as good live as on their recordings.

Listen Here, To Into Your Arms:

Today Apple's iTunes Store has become lord over all recorded material; making CDs obsolete. iTunes policy of "sold separately" songs keeps music consumers happy and Apple even gives them a special price for purchasing all the songs on an album. Meaning, either your music is on an iPod or non-existent to the mass of consumers for whom iTunes is their primary source of purchased music.

This leaves artists with some dismal options:

Jose Gabriel Capaz sometimes doodled as a kid but never thought about being an artist. When he was 14, one day, his uncle, who paints as a hobby, gave a landscape to the family and they hung it on the wall.

"I remember thinking, why can't I make something to put on our wall?", Jose says. "So I drew something for my uncle and he said I had talent and should start lessons."

Jose and some other kids in the neighborhood began classes with an elderly art teacher in the neighborhood. Of the 4 kids in the class then, one now takes care of birds, one works at a ration stand and one is sick with a brain tumor. Jose paints.

Jose grew up during Cuba's 'Special Period', which was the worst post-revolutionary economic period in the country's history. After the Soviet Union fell apart, Cuba nearly went right down with it in the 90's. The economic support Cuba had been relying on from Russia was pulled out from under them, and what was left was a severely dysfunctional economic system still struggling to function today.

During the Special Period, many people were literally starving, and the overall mood was similar to what you might imagine The Great Depression was like. Perhaps for this reason, much of Jose's art deals with themes of death, starvation and violence.