Wave the Flag

We wanted to take what our ancestors did centuries ago: which was bang on their acoustic instruments while singing at the top of their lungs. When did these gathering happen? Outside, on the edge of town and it was always during a full moon (because no electricity). They did it to celebrate their lives, their harvest, and each other. Try doing that with an electric guitar and a bunch of fuzzy pedals. Yeah, that's right - you can't.
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What was this band going to write about? Well, we have a love/hate relationship with social media, and our new role in the cyber world. We absolutely see the pros and cons. On the one hand you have centuries of genius at your fingertips, we get to see friends and family all the time, knowledge that we can discard the minute it's used. We can fix anything with a good search and a youtube DIY'er dying to show me all of his secrets.
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On the other more sinister hand of that social media spectrum, we see the narcissistic tendencies, passive aggressiveness, and ugly comment sections devoid of humanity and reason. No empathy - just the ugly selfish side of people who ignore the fact that you really should always be on your best behavior.
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What was this going to sound like? To continue on from the intro above, we wanted it to be a spin on upbeat catchy rock that has come before us - but we wanted it to be about acoustic guitars, a growling in your face bass that smartly fills in between chaos, and drums so upfront you could feel the kick in your throat. Add in manic pacing that could keep dancehall crasher tempo one minute and then play a half time super funk 70's groove the next.
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What we sound like TL;DR - The Lowest of the Low meets the Violent Femmes with this SoCal punk vibe. We wanted to honor the James Taylor, Cat Stevens, and Jim Croce of our youth but set it on fire with the songs that made us move and sing along at the top of our lungs.
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Lyrically, the topics range from fear, self loathing, neighborhood indifference, death, taking new steps, life changes, subterfuge, being a captive of technology, and having everything in the world someone would want - but still feeling like you don't have anything.

We also toiled with lyrics around the 3 acts in a play - which also have deep roots in how modern day film scripts are modeled. We even have a fun one about superhero Ant-Man. Terminal cancer was tackled and the struggle as we wait for the inevitable. There were lyrics about how everything and everyone is constantly lying to you - to the point where you are being gaslit into believing falsehoods, and a song about someone simply being two faced. Looking back on it all, it seemed the more clear headed we got, - the more laser focused on getting it finished was the goal.
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Mario Nobilio was tasked to play bass. His accolades come fierce - The UFC used his ex band STEMM for over a decade as their theme song. Talk about the perfect compliment to the crazy we asked him to play. Drummer Robert Helms has a long history of studio work which brings the exact pacing to keep things frosty. We look to Rob and he is the meter - plus - he hits fricken hard.

Dennis Clifton came on to sing lead vocals. His boisterous spirit keeps everyone hanging on his every word. He is also super proficient in astrology, you tell him your birthday and he will tell you everything you need to know about you. Go ahead, try it.
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2nd acoustic lead guitar, the guy on the top of our list was Jake Hassler. He has stayed true to what was asked but has brought a creative spin that adds this texture and beauty to these palpable tunes.
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Rhythm acoustic guitar and main songwriter - Gus Walters. Lots of anger in his playing and the songs take from a heavily influenced past. Gus runs an entertainment company that specializes in audio and video production because he is that committed to the projects.
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We decided to call this acoustic madness "Wave the Flag". It spoke volumes to us about finally saying enough is enough. With life, and the current state of music especially, you need to parley with yourself and those around you. To really get down in the mud to figure out things. To find your empathy, to break from that norm. Get humble. When things are going a way you don't want them, sometimes you just have to take a moment, breathe and figure out where you stand. How to move forward. What is the negative energy, where is it coming from? Surrender or fight! This band will change what you are used to hearing. You will either love it or hate it. Google Rick Rubin quotes, you'll find out what we are talking about, and how we approached this project before a song was even attempted.
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The Recording, Mixing and Mastering: Over the course of 120 days, we wrote 11 songs, structured, and recorded the concepts at our writing studio Furious Recordings. We then recorded drum parts at The Music Lab, in Niagara Falls. Johnny Allen Helms is the head studio engineer over there and he recorded all the drum parts you hear - and one song, "Two Tongued", we tracked the bass and lead vocals at his studio. The last leg of this journey, we had Dave St. Onge from DMS Productions mix 4 of the 11 songs down. Those 4 songs will be on an upcoming EP and the date will be announced shortly.
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There will be a 4 song EP that will be released in the coming months, multiple videos to go along with them, and we have 7 more songs to finish mixing down for release in 2018.