New Ukrainian grunge band HLAM: release of their debut single and participation in concerts in the midst of a full-scale war

Lana Kulyk is a Ukrainian writer, author of Swan Love, The Adventures of Hedgehog, and the collection Burrs. She is currently developing the literary agency Lit Agency Phoenix, which aims to represent Ukrainian authors abroad. Lana shared insights with Drive Music Media about the beginning of her writing journey, the Burrs collection, and her own literary agency.

Rocco Guarino is an American music producer, songwriter with the song placements in shows and founder of his own label, Starlite Records, created with the mission of giving a voice to musicians who were worthy but never heard. His music has been featured in shows such as Woke on Hulu, The Kroll Show on Comedy Central, and many others. The label was founded as a tribute to his mother, a talented singer who, despite her dedication and hard work, never received the recognition she deserved. Over the course of his career, Rocco has collaborated with many monumental musicians, including Elton John. Beyond the music industry, Rocco is also deeply connected to the world of videography and photography. He once served as the official videographer for Velvet Revolver and directed their music video “The Last Light”, which ultimately reached #9 on VN1. Music, photography, and videography share two perspectives: those in front of the stage or camera, and those who capture history as it truly was. In his work, Rocco has always done the latter. Also, Rocco is not only a renowned music producer and the founder of Starlite Records, but also an active force for good in the community, volunteering with Adopt the Arts to help keep music in public schools. As a voting member of the Recording Academy and an official endorser of Aston Microphones, Behringer, Cerwin-Vega, KRK, Rode, and Sandhill Microphones, he continues to combine art with purpose, making meaningful contributions to the development of music beyond the studio. He spoke with Drive Music Media about honesty in his craft, working with Velvet Revolver, founding Starlite Records, challenges in the music industry, the calm of photography, and his upcoming projects.

Anna Arden is a Ukrainian singer and songwriter whose goal is to make Ukrainian music recognizable around the world. She is a two-time winner of the international project Golden Time Talent and is currently actively working on new music. In our conversation, Anna opened up about the beginning of her creative journey, the differences between the music scenes in Austria and Ukraine, and her personal mission as an artist.

On Friday, August 1st, a private screening of Sophie Karl’s film "A Requiem for Desire" took place in London at the Soho Hotel. The film tells a story of love and the realization that you may not be living your first life — and that, little by little, you begin to feel it in this new incarnation. Sophie worked in collaboration with visionary director Isaac Lawrence and with the editor Stephen Southouse. What the premiere felt like and the deeper meanings Sophie and Isaac embedded into the film — as well as its strong and weak points — were discovered firsthand by the founder of Drive Music Media, Asya Radko, who attended the event.

Devin Cecchetto is not only an actress known for her role as the younger version of Evelyn Goodwin in the Canadian series The Way Home about healing family and personal traumas through time travel via a mysterious pond, but also a singer-songwriter. She doesn’t limit herself to one genre, as she grew up listening to all kinds of music — and that helped her find balance between styles and, most importantly, feel free in her music. This week, she released a light, summery track called “So Obvious” along with a music video for the song. This summer, she’s been diving deep into music and opened up to us about the heartfelt creation of “Ships in the Night”, inspired by her life story, and the effortlessly breezy “So Obvious”.