Tell us about yourself and your music
We are an Electronic Instrumental Prog Rock band originally formed in Edinboro, Pennsylvania. We played together for about a year and a half and parted ways but not permanently. In that time we made our first album, self-titled, and played a few of the bigger local venues in our area. After we departed we continued for the next two years to work on music together the best we could. We almost have a second album finished currently and plan to release it in the next few months. Currently we are planning on our reunion. We will all be relocating ourselves to Pittsburgh (minus our original keyboardist Sam Eakin). The three core members will be moving into a house together which has been a dream for us for a long time. Our first priority is to finish our second album and then begin playing shows in the Pittsburgh area. Of course we hope to be able to branch out in the future to the entire big beautiful world.
Talk to us more about your latest release
Our first and only release was our self-title album two years ago. But currently we are working on our untitled second album. We have been working on this for the past two years by sharing tracks online with each other. Because this album has been made completely studio style without any live playing together, we were free to experiment with ideas we otherwise would not have used before, including sprinkling in some vocals every now and then. When we finally get back together in Pittsburgh we will actually be able to play live together and finish the album more easily. So far the second album sounds very different from our original, especially wit the manner in which we are writing it. Actually we are planning on sort of re-inventing our sound when we reunite and the second album may serve as somewhat of a new template for our music.
What inspired you to write this release?
I honestly do not know how to answer that question. I guess we just felt like it?
Describe the writing and recording process
For our first album we just sort of jammed a lot of the time and recorded ourselves. If something good came out of a practice we worked the idea into an actual piece. Most of the time someone would come to practice with a song idea already worked out and we would just play it until we molded it into something. Obviously we our second album we did not have this luxury. We are all currently living in separate cities, and even one of us is in a different state. For this album someone would just record a few tracks of an idea and second it to the others. We would all just keep adding/deleting/editing tracks and sending them back and forth. Given our limitations we are all actually very satisfied with how it is turning out. Once we are back in Pittsburgh we plan on finishing the album as more of a live group, reflecting our original style of writing. Although sharing tracks over distances has definitely given us new ideas on how we will handle the writing process.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8eJkGPnkG96MfghO6ZJ00w?view_as=subscriber
Any plans to hit the road?
Right now we are focusing on getting ourselves into a house in Pittsburgh. Once we are back together we definitely plan on getting our selves back into playing out but we have no specific places in mind other than the Pittsburgh area for now.
So sadly we will not be going on any tours for some time.
As an indie artist, how do you brand yourself and your music to stand out from the rest of the artists out there?
We don’t believe is using gimmicks or novelties. We simply just try to put out the best music we can. We don’t have an image we are trying to sell. Our drummer is also our acting graphic artist so we basically just let him decide what looks cool.
Who have you been listening to lately?
Honestly, I just got done listening to our second album for the third time today.
Who are your biggest influences?
Papadosio, Vibe & Direct, Tauk, Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Slightly Stupid, Pearl Jam, Guns n’ Roses, Jimi Hendrix, Gnosis (also of the Erie, PA area, seriously look up their album Silver Matters. It blew our minds how good these guys were.)
Tell us about your passions
Our drummer is a graphical artist and is currently working on his own Indie game. He’s pretty much always at his laptop creating something.
The bassist is also a production manager as his profession. He landed the job recently and I’ve honestly never seen him so happy at work. He loves just being fully immersed in anything music and that includes promoting, organizing, and managing shows. He’s been at it a long time and he’s finally in a position where he can fully be a part of producing the entire experience for people.
As a guitarist my only passion is being a guitarist. I can list various other interests but they are essentially hobbies to kill time until I’m playing guitar again.
What else is happening next in your world?
Reunion in Pittsburgh as mentioned before. From there we have no clue where we are taking this project or how far.
Thanks for an awesome interview, AudioTonic
Connect with AudioTonic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/audiotonicJJA/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8eJkGPnkG96MfghO6ZJ00w?view_as=subscriberSoundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/audio-tonic
