Singer/songwriter/guitarist Ted Billings is the front man of a now disbanded Boston area rock band Slater, who were fucking awesome. If you haven’t heard of Slater, get on it. I hate to overhype them and say they sound like The Beatles meet Nirvana, but you know what I mean, the genre blend, loud messy distortion meets a happier pop sense yet with intricate, empathetic melodies and harmonies. Some dude (I’m not a journalist) Pat Healy described their sound well as “distortion with major scale enthusiasm.”
All My Favorite Rockstars Are Dead is an amazing 6-track Slater album. I stole that title for my blog because it fits so well with my current mood towards music right now. Why do all the good ones die so young? It may just be coincidence, but it’s quite true all my favorite rockstars are indeed dead. Lennon, Harrison, Cobain, Layne, Jimi, Bradley. Such a cynic I know. But anyways, AMFRD is a good album and their follow up self-titled album is easily in my favorite top 20 of all time (of all time!), maybe top 10. Locate a copy.
After Slater was done, Ted switched his style up and evolved his sound, adding more synths and acoustic guitars, incorporating a wider range of genres with the intelligent/melancholy/strange sound of the gradually succeeding indie-rock band Age Rings. Definite traces of Slater linger in Age Rings (in a good way) but its definitely a different vibe all together. Less loud, raw energy, more lyrical/melodic focus. Both bands are great so check em out.
Key Slater Tracks: Keep Up, On a Kite, Are You Feeling Lucky?
Key Age Rings Tracks: Everything Will Fall Apart, Rock and Roll is Dead, Black Honey
allmyfavoriterockstarsaredead 
QR
/ September 13, 2012First time at your blog, probably my last (but only because I will probably never remember to think to go to it again), but I would suggest more stuff like this (great post) and less of the so overplayed “Nickleback sucks!” stuff.
thekid91234
/ September 13, 2012Then just bookmark it man! Thanks for the feedback. Just made a post more to your liking I believe. about local band Porque I Said So. Check it out.
thekid91234
/ November 3, 2012Reblogged this on allmyfavoriterockstarsaredead and commented:
Reposting this to share where the blog’s name comes from
mattjhbailey
/ November 28, 2012Don’t forget Ted was in Hot Protestants: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Hot-Protestants/141723702983?fref=ts
mattjhbailey
/ November 28, 2012This too: http://hotprotestants.bandcamp.com/
The Kid
/ November 28, 2012Thank you!