PopBucket: How would you describe the sound of your music and who are your major influences?

Jon Sandler: It’s definitely a hard to describe sound – I like to call it a pop fusion.  I am inspired by artists like Michael Jackson, The Talking Heads and Elton John – amazing songwriters who also know how to put on a show.

PB: When did you start working as a musician/song-writer?

JS: I don’t necessarily feel like I have ever “worked” as a songwriter.  I have been doing it since I was so young (about 9) and it comes so naturally to me that it feels like a function on my body, like breathing. Luckily, since I feel like expressing myself that way was not a conscious choice for me, it is one of the things that I enjoy doing the most in the world.

PB: Tell us a little bit about your latest L.P Late Night Champ and upcoming single Stars Align. What inspires you to write and how has this changed across your different releases?

JS: Late Night Champ is my first real full-length album.  It is basically a compilation of songs that I wrote over the past 10 or so years that I think tells a pretty good story of my emotions and experiences up till now. Produced by my piano player Dominic Fallacaro, mixed by Justin Gerrish (Vampire Weekend) and mastered by Chris Gehringer (Lady Gaga), I am extremely proud of the way it sounds and have been so excited and honored by the positive response we have been getting.  I am inspired by everything and anything – deep topics like life, death, time and love and also more superficial things like my cat Judy or Vodka. Stars Align, whilst it sounds like a love song, is actually about not wanting to be with someone and telling them facetiously that I’ll “see them when the stars align”.

PB: What’s it like working with a production team whose credits include Lady Gaga and Muse, have you learnt a lot?

JS: Working with experienced professionals is always an amazing experience and I always learn a ton.  Living in NYC, I often find myself in the presence of greatness and just try to absorb all I can.

PB: What have you gained from working with other musicians?

JS: More and more lately I have enjoyed collaborating creatively.  It really helps you to create unique things and think outside your comfort zone.  It’s a good way to grow.

PB: This modern technological climate has seen a rise in D-I-Y artists, with this in mind have you ever considered setting up your own record label?

JS: These days it is possible for artists to gain success being completely self-sufficient and releasing their own music.  I have been signed to a great independent label for a few years now and I enjoy having other people taking care of the business side of things and supporting me in other areas, it allows me to focus more on the music.

PB: What has been your biggest challenge in the music industry thus far?

JS: Definitely the biggest challenge is just getting your name out there amongst the thousands of other musicians all trying to do the same thing, trying to infiltrate the same eyes and ears.  Especially when you are just starting out, you definitely hear ‘no’ more than ‘yes’.  It’s hard when the music is so personal.

PB: What’s your ultimate goal as a music artist?

JS: My goal is to just keep making music and to be able to tour and share it with people that want to hear it.  I hope that people relate to my words and gain comfort in hard times, or pleasant accompaniment in the good times.

PB: How did your recent UK dates go, did you get a good reception?

JS: I was overwhelmed by the positive reception I got in the UK.  People were responding and connecting to my songs in a really special way.  It was awesome to feel so welcomed so far from home.

PB: It’s widely known to be extremely difficult to break into the music industry as an artist; do you have any advice for those who aspire to?

JS: Just stay true to yourself and don’t give up.  Also, only pursue this journey if you can’t not (yes, double negative) pursue it – if it’s what your soul needs to live.  It is not easy, there are a lot of sacrifices and a lot of discouraging moments, but if it’s what you are meant to do, the extreme joys and fulfillment you will get, makes it all worth it.

PB: How can potential fans gain access your music?

JS: All my music is on iTunes and Spotify and you can get all updates and news at Facebook, Twitter and on my site. Thank you so much!

PB: Thank you very much for your time Jon, we look forward to the release of your new album and wish you the best for the future.

Late Night Champ is set for release on 29 July with the new single Stars Align coming to us on 1 July.

Epic, the new 3D CG film starring Amanda Seyfried, Josh Hutcherson and Colin Farrell, arrives  in UK cinemas today – and we have a brand new trailer for you to see, featuring new footage from the film.

You can also see interviews with the cast in new footage from Epic’s New York premiere.

Check out this new action packed Man of Steel trailer, featuring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams and Michael Shannon, which reveals what General Zod has come to Earth for.

Man of Steel is out in cinemas 14 June.

The game is being released on 1 November for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3 but that doesn’t confirm when it’s being released on the next-gen consoles. It will likely only be a week or so different if it isn’t the same date.

And if you pre-order Battlefield 4, you’ll receive the China Rising Digital Expansion Pack where players fight will for dominance across the vast and majestic Chinese mainland in four massive multiplayer maps, using all-new vehicles and high-tech military equipment. Separately, players that pre-order the Battlefield 4 Digital Deluxe on Origin will receive the base game, bonus in-game digital items, the China Rising digital expansion pack and access to the exclusive Battlefield 4 multiplayer beta.

It’s also been confirmed that DICE will be unveiling Battlefield 4 multiplayer with a spectacular live demo at E3 at 9pm GMT on Monday 10 June.

Just like the legend of the Phoenix, the master minds behind chart-topping club hits like 1995’s Around The World and 2000’s One More Time, French electronic music duo Daft Punk have managed to reinvent themselves with the captivating smash hit Get Lucky. Released on 19 April 2013 as a digital download, Get Lucky is the highest charting single since One More Time, which peaked at number two on the Official UK Singles Chart and at number one on the UK Dance Charts in 2000. Voted by the readers of British clubbing and electronic dance magazine “Mixblog” as the greatest dance record of all time, One More Time featured the vocals of American singer/producer Romanthony, who recently passed away on 7 May 2013, at the age of 46.

Following the release of the single Derezzed (2010) part of the Tron: Legacy soundtrack, the French duo s current single Get Lucky has managed to remain number one on the Official UK Singles Chart for a fourth consecutive week, thus becoming the second biggest-selling single of the year in the UK to date, after Thrift Shop from the American rapper Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis.

Needless to say that luck had nothing to do with the unprecedented success of Daft Punk s brilliant hook-centric single Get Lucky; instead it had everything to do with the single’s captivating electronic beats, intoxicating melodies, catchy lyricism and enthralling riffs, the latter being written and played by American guitarist/producer/arranger Nile Rodgers.

Co-written also and featuring a memorable vocal performance by the Neptunes member Pharrell Williams, who is also associated with the American hip hop band N.E.R.D., the funky single Get Lucky has been critically acclaimed worldwide. Moreover, it has become Daft Punk’s most commercially successful single to date, at this moment selling over 600,000 copies in just four weeks and being only 19,000 copies behind Macklemore’s Thrift Shop.

Despite being available for less than 48 hours, on 21 April 2013 the mega-single Get Lucky peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and the commercial music streaming service Spotify announced that this smash hit had become the most streamed song over a 24-hour period both in the UK and in the US. Selling more than 50,000 copies during the first week since its release, Get Lucky became Daft Punk s best-selling digital single and the first top-ten smash hit in the UK since the 2000 single One More Time. A week later, on 28 April 2013, Get Lucky rose to number one on the UK Singles Chart, selling another 155,000 copies during the second week and thus becoming Daft Punk’s first ever number one single in the UK.

The French house music duo Daft Punk who believe that the “ultimate interface is human creativity” have certainly “raised the bar” and their “cups to the stars”, with this incredible instant-catchy and ultra-fun track. The single managed to remain at number one during the third week, when sales reached a whopping 163,000 copies. For the fourth week in a row, the single infused with fascinating musicality managed to remain atop the UK chart and again selling over 100,000 copies.

The length of this single is 4 minutes and 8 seconds as the radio edit and 6 minutes and 7 minutes as the album version. Although each person is entitled to understand whatever you want from the lyrics of this incredibly melodious song, Pharrell Williams recently stated that the sexual innuendo is not all there is to it, because this track takes into consideration “the fortune” related to potential chemistry between two people, to the point of finding their other half.

Prior to its release as a single, Get Lucky was featured in two 15-second TV ads broadcast during the American comedy/variety show Saturday Night Live. Shortly after, Nile Rogers and Pharrell Williams announced their contribution to the song, which was completed over an 18-month long period of time. Pharrell, who also appears in the music video, performed Get Lucky live for the very first time in Brooklyn, at the HTC One launch party, on 19 April 2013.

Get Lucky is the first single from Random Access Memories, the forth studio album by Daft Punk, which is predicted to outsell the fastest selling album in the UK chart history, Oasis’s Be Here Now. Instilled with the “celebratory spirit” of the late 1970s and early 1980s sound of LA recordings, which combine funk, disco and electronic music, the newest studio album “Random Access Memories” was launched on May 17th, 2013 at the 79th Annual Wee Waa Show venue in the Australian rural town of Wee Waa.

This critically acclaimed album was released on 20 May 2013 in the UK, under license to Columbia Records and it will be released on 21 May in the US and on 22 May in Japan. The title of this album draws a parallel between human creativity and random-access memory technology. Daft Punk’s latest album features thirteen tracks, some of which feature collaborations with Pharrell Williams (Lose Yourself To Dance and Get Lucky), Julian Casablancas (Instant Crush), Paul Williams (Touch), Todd Edwards (Fragments of Time) and Panda Bear (Doin It Right).

Daft Punk are renowned worldwide for their robot-like appearance during live performances, for incorporating elaborate visual effects in their shows and for combining hook riffs with experimental avant-garde electronic-inspired sounds. You have the right to get lucky and get your ear-gasm while listening to the intoxicating melody of Daft Punk’s Get Lucky – number 1 in the UK for a fourth consecutive week.

Check out these three new posters for the film Man of Steel, featuring Jor-El, Superman and General Zod. 

Ubisoft has released a trailer for the co-op mode of Splinter Cell Blacklist.

With four mission types, 14 maps with 2 player split-screen, it’s pretty meaty. And the fact it’s split-screen means you won’t get some annoying git online undoing all your hard, stealthy work.