Axis Armada

History: Axis Armada emerged uniquely, breaking ground as a studio collaboration between John Brown's Body, and Bedouin Soundclash keyboardist/guitarist Matt Goodwin, and Rochester NY singer songwriter Nate Merrill. Matt and Nate spent the better part of two years drafting ideas in Hope Alive Media's "Soundprint" studio located in Rochester NY. As Matt and Nate closed in on the completion of nearly 20 rough tracks, Matt's brother, Shaun Goodwin moved back to Rochester NY after an 8 year stint working for the US Alpine Ski Team. Shaun would soon engage with Matt and Nate in an effort to explore avenues in which they could begin to push their work outside of the studio. Soon thereafter Shaun would work with Matt and Nate to spearhead a fundraiser using 5 of their songs to be released as part of a compilation to be sold in support of Shaun's former athletes on the U.S. Women's Alpine Ski Team. The self titled album, "Out of Bounds", was released in November 2010. The album featured 5 Axis Armada songs with added song donations from artists such as Giant Panda Guerilla Dub Squad, Rubblebucket, Brian Friedman and the Ghosts of Jupiter. In an effort to publicly support the fundraiser, Matt and Nate sought out some musical support to take these and other songs live. It would begin with Shaun who quickly took on the task of learning a handful of songs on Bass. His first instrument, it began as more of an interim test to buy some time until the group could be filled out. The search then went to finding a drummer and Matt and Nate tapped the young and talented local drummer, Cody Webster. Shortly thereafter Matt and Shaun's cousin Scott Topel, a classically trained finger style guitarist, moved back to the area from Santa Cruz California. He had recently finished up his formal training with world renown guitarist Leo Kottke. He would end up joining forces with Matt, Nate and Cody to add his talent on the guitar and mandolin to the effort. With the sound coming together, the relationship developed into a cohesive group that continued to included the rapidly developed sounds of Shaun on the bass. This is the group that now makes up Axis Armada. Everyone in this group has brought a unique and distinct sound to the band. Nate's singer-songwriter background resonates through the voice of the band while Matt and Scott's passion for Rock and Roll infuses the sound with an added energy. Cody's youthful influences bring a modern relevance to the sound while Shaun, formally untrained, brings his own unique approach to the rhythms that drive this powerful sound. The bands ability to span genre's and generation defines this band. Axis Armada is an original five piece rock band located in Rochester NY.