FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE FAIR INFO: 410-252-0200, x227 or marylandstatefair.com MEDIA CONTACT ONLY: Edie M. Bernier, 410-252-0200, x225 R5 headlines MD State Fair’s Labor Day weekend concert lineup with opening artist Bea Miller (TIMONIUM, MD) – R5, the rapidly climbing exciting new voice in the world of pop-rock, will headline the 2015 Maryland State Fair Concert Series presented by M&T Bank on Friday, September 4 in the Maryland State Fair infield. Opening artist Bea Miller will take center stage at 7:30 p.m. with R5 at 8:45 p.m. Tickets on sale at www.marylandstatefair.com. “Talk about a great show coming to The Maryland State Fair … this is about as good as it gets when it comes to family-oriented entertainment,” said Andy Cashman, CFE, Maryland State Fair’s general manager. “Our fairgoers will really get two concerts for the price of one with both R5 and Bea Miller performing.” On-line ticket sales began at 4 p.m., Friday, May 1, at www.marylandstatefair.com. Tickets are $40 each for VIP festival standing, and $20 each for general admission; ticket prices do not include fair gate admission, nor parking. The concert will be held in the fairground’s infield; there are no assigned standing or viewing privileges. “It’s the kind of concert where everyone will want to stand and dance to the music, which is why we don’t sell reserved tickets,” added Cashman. Led by vocalist/rhythm guitarist Ross Lynch, R5 is comprised of Lynch's siblings Riker (bass/vocals), Rocky (lead guitar/vocals) and Rydel (keyboard/vocals) and friend Ellington "Ratliff" (drums/vocals). R5 has moved one step closer to world domination with the release of their much-anticipated first single “Let’s Not Be Alone Tonight” off their upcoming sophomore album, Sometime Last Night, the follow up to their hit debut album LOUDER, which rocketed to No. 1 on iTunes in 10 countries upon its September 24, 2013 release. The band has appeared on Good Morning America, Ellen and LIVE! with Kelly & Michael. Riker Lynch appeared on Season 20 of ABC’s smash hit Dancing With The Stars, consistently receiving high praise from the judges and fans alike. “more” P.O. Box 188, Timonium, Maryland 21094-0188 410-252-0200 Fax 410-561-5610 R-5/Bea Miller to Perform at 134th Maryland State Fair – Page 2 Ross Lynch currently stars as Austin Moon, one-half of an internet music duo, on the Disney Channel’s hit comedy series Austin & Ally, which is in its fourth and final season. On Saturday, Ross won his third consecutive Kids’ Choice Award for Favorite TV Actor for his role on the show. This summer, fans will be able to catch him on the silver screen as modern day surfer Brady in the Disney Channel Original Movie Teen Beach 2, the sequel to 2013’s smash hit Teen Beach Movie. The band self-released their first EP, Ready Set Rock in 2010, signed with Hollywood Records in April of 2012 and released their second EP, Loud, on February 19, 2013. The quintet starred in a 5-part VEVO series titled “R5 on R5,” which saw cameras follow them on a 2013 sold-out tour that included shows in the U.S., Canada, Australia, England and France. The band made a triumphant return to Europe in early 2014 and released a 6-part VEVO series, R5 Live in London , capturing the mania of R5 fans during a magnetic show in London in March of that year. In April, the band brought R5: All Day, All Night to the big screen for one night only. The documentary offers a never-before-seen look at the band’s career from inception to the present and includes exclusive interviews, concert footage and footage from the band’s early years. Not to be outdone by her male counterparts, in making her first full-length album, Bea Miller’s vision was clear. A singer/songwriter whose raspy vocals and sharp-edged pop have already earned her recognition as one of Rolling Stone’s “10 Artists You Need To Know”, as an MTV “Artist to Watch for 2015,” and as one of Billboard’s “10 Artists to Watch in 2015,” Bea’s main ambition was to create songs that spoke the sometimes-messy truth and helped others overcome their own hurt. “When I was younger, I never felt like I had a female artist who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, someone I could relate to and look up to,” says Bea. “Now that I’m making my own music, I want to be there for people so they can feel less alone in whatever they’re going through.” Recorded over the last year—with time out for an autumn 2014 tour with Demi Lovato—Not An Apology finds Bea fulfilling her mission by infusing her punk spirit into impassioned pop songs with a fiercely uplifting power. Featuring several tracks co-written by Bea (including her debut single “Young Blood,” a darkly charged anthem that hit the Billboard Hot 100 soon after its April 2014 release), Not An Apology mines her everyday experience for unapologetically honest lyrics about everything from bullying and backstabbers to isolation and breakup angst. “When you’re writing you have to get down to your deepest, darkest emotions, because that’s what makes a great song,” says Bea. “You need to be totally real and just put it all out there.” To capture the tension between toughness and vulnerability that propels much of Not An Apology, Bea teamed up with producers like busbee (P!nk, Kelly Clarkson), Jarrad Rogers (Icona Pop, Demi Lovato), Mike Del Rio (Kylie Minogue, Selena Gomez), and Matt Squire (Ariana Grande, Ke$ha) to craft a melody-fueled mix of gritty guitar riffs, fuzzed-out grooves, and awesomely heady beats. Kicking off with “Young Blood” and moving into its defiant yet dreamy follow-up single “Fire N Gold,” Not An Apology delivers anthem after anthem, each with its own nuanced message. Tracks like the shimmering “I Dare You” channel the quiet power of reclaiming your self-confidence, while the triumphant “We’re Taking Over” serenades the misfits of the world and promises future glory (“This is for the girls who like chicks/And this is for the guys who like chick flicks/Baby, the world is yours and mine”). “more” R-5/Bea Miller to Perform at 134th Maryland State Fair – Page 3 One of the album’s most stunning moments, “Paper Doll” plays off its soft/loud dynamic to show the unrest and loneliness that comes with being bullied. “When you’re bullied, it truly feels like no one cares about you, which is one of the worst feelings I can think of,” says Bea of “Paper Doll,” another of the tracks she co-wrote for Not An Apology. “I’m not usually open to talking about my own experience with bullying,” she continues, “but it was important for me to put that song out there so that other people would know they’re not the only ones dealing with something like that.” Proving Bea’s easy versatility as a vocalist and performer, Not An Apology also offers up songs as eclectic as “This Is Not An Apology” (a fired-up, dance-ready tribute to all those scrappy girls “laying in the dirt/Rather ripped-up jeans than a mini-skirt”), “Force of Nature” (a stripped-down love song built on acoustic guitar and Bea’s sweetly starry-eyed vocal work), “Dracula” (a hip-hop-inspired track with fantastically twisted fairytale imagery), and “Rich Kids” (a punk-powered takedown co-written by Good Charlotte’s Benji and Joel Madden). To keep her music instilled with real, raw emotion, Bea maintains five different notebooks (each with its own purpose) to record what’s on her mind from day to day. “I’m constantly writing, either poetry or rants or just getting my thoughts out so that I can eventually turn them into a song,” she says. And though Bea made her first attempt at songwriting at an early age, her storytelling-based approach to lyric-writing has much deeper roots. “Instead of playing with dolls when I was young, I had them act out these movies I was making up in my mind,” she says. “And then when I got really into music it was like, ‘Oh, cool—you can tell an entire story like a movie, but in three minutes.’” Growing in Brooklyn and New Jersey with her two moms and twin kid sisters, Bea began singing as a baby and never really stopped. Early on, a classmate’s parent took note of Bea’s talent while working with her on a school play, and soon introduced her to a well-known music producer who offered Bea her first record deal (an offer she turned down in order to take time to let her voice develop). Around the same time, Bea landed a role in Homeland director Michael Cuesta’s feature film Tell Tale, followed by a part in Toy Story 3. Bea also began tapping into her vocal prowess by belting out “America the Beautiful” after a Venus vs Serena match at the 2008 U.S. Open, singing for a crowd of thousands and sparking a serious desire to devote her life to making music. Several years after her singing debut, Bea auditioned for the second season of The X Factor, emerged as a top-ten finalist, and quickly signed a deal with Syco Music/Hollywood Records.