PureVolume

Members: Alexandria Von Wollenberg-Vocals, Bass. Corbin Adams-Elektrik Guitar. Jarod Grice-Vocals, Acoustical Guitar. Justin Styer-Electric Guitar, Vocals. Keaton Lamle- Drums & Percussion.

Our new EP, "I WANT TO MAKE YOUR MOTHER", is now available. Trade us your email address for a copy at www.noisetrade.com/lancastertheband.

We are a rock and roll band from Tejas and Oklahoma currently recording our first full-length LP.



BIOCASTER

I suppose that the ice came first, and being the thing that set this thing off, I guess I should tell you of it. So. Here goes. One weekend in February (was it March?) of 2010 there happened upon Southwestern Oklahoma a storm so strong, an event so cataclysmic, a force of nature so powerful that it wrapped up within it's icy claws the roads and trees and electrical wires and streetlights and kept us all from driving for the whole of the weekend. This left us with nothing to do, with nothing to do and with disconcerting thoughts to think and out of these thoughts was born the idea of a family band. Justin was probably the catalyst. Having an unreasonably loud guitar amplifier and being stuck with 5 other people in a 850 square-foot apartment I suppose he felt stifled or suffocated or at the very least musically subdued. Anytime he would plug his guitar into the thing tempers would be flared and eyes would be rolled and friendships would be ruined. So I suppose that on this icy weekend when Justin began to talk of playing music with his friends, it was simply an attempt to create a socially acceptable outlet in which to explore the tonal possibilities of his vacuum tubes and spring reverberations. We ignored his ramblings and decided instead to watch the 14-hour extended version of the Lord of the Rings.


Nothing happened for several months. One day in mid-spring Justin began to brag about having learned F# minor, E major, and A major. Toiling over a plastic keyboard, he and I began the tedious process of attempting to play these chords first in secession, and eventually began to wonder about the most effective sequencing of these three chords which must surely be something new, something divine entrusted to only us by the gods or the muse or some supernatural force(s). After 15 minutes we were exhausted and decided to drive to Taco Bell to celebrate our newfound status as aesthetic pioneers. On the way there, while sitting at a stoplight, I wondered aloud to Justin as to whether this is what it had felt like to be Van Goh, or Miles Davis, or Miley Cyrus. He agreed that it probably was.


Upon returning to the house we were both crestfallen to learn that both Jarod (who takes fancy music classes at a university) and Corbin (who had by this time broken his back in a fall out of a tall tower and apparently in his wheelchair and amphetamine-induced stupor had nothing better to do than learn instruments) had both heard of the chords which Justin and I had played and furthermore, had played them before in the same manner as we. We asked them to prove it, Jarod on acoustical guitar and Corbin on Banjo. They did. We asked them to sing over the chords. It sounded good. It sounded fresh. It sounded like Robin Pecknold was fronting CCR. We played the same 3 chords in this way for nearly 5 hours. Around 3 a.m. the four of us passed out in the living room, instruments still in our laps.


Then there was Alex. We had decided it necessary to convene in a practice space with drums and vocal microphones. As we set up shop it became apparent that we were a decidedly lopsided outfit. There were 3 guitarists and a drummer who was also trying to play keyboards with one hand during the simpler sections of our 3 chord symphony. As Alex watched us groping in the dark for a sound, an idea, and a mission the bass guitar sat static-leaned by it's neck against the public address system. Alex knew how to play the bass guitar. She had learned some fairly intricate Iron Maiden songs on the thing as a 5th grader but hadn't thought about it much since. I coaxed her to pick the instrument up and play along. "I don't want to"- she said. "Please do. We sound terrible." I replied. She did and we did and in a few seconds she was playing and the song began to take shape and Justin began to shred and Corbin accidentally stood much too close to his amplifier which in turned overloaded and began to scream and feedback and moan in protest and Jarod began to sing with all his pre-pubescant might and I swung those awful wooden sticks as hard as I could against those awful synthetic drumheads (trying to break them) and Justin harmonized on top of Jarod's vocal and it worked.


-Keaton Lamle/John Lancaster. September 8, 2010.