PureVolume

Trees! is an electro-punk dance band influenced by the likes of The Rapture, Q and Not U, and Beep Beep. Its members are from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The band was formed in the fall of 2005 at Lebanon Valley College where all members are students. This unique sounding band stormed the local scene during the spring of 2006 and rocketed to success. The band has only been around for a year and they already have opened for The Starting Line and Cartel, they are in talks with management and labels, has self-produced an EP, has had a full spread article written about them and all the while attending college as full-time students. For logistical reasons, they did not play shows during their breaks from school, which makes all that they have accomplished in the available time even more impressive!
Trees!' sound can best be best understood through its instrumentation; Synth, Bass, Guitar, Drums and Backing Tracks make up the core of their music. Playing to backing tracks consisting of additional harmonies and noises that the synth cannot reproduce while playing live gives the band a very thick texture. This texture combined with the band's energy onstage makes for a unique and entertaining live show.
Their sound can also be contributed to the songwriting process. Mike (synth player and vocalist) writes all the music and Matt (drums) and Matt (bass) make it happen. Mike gets an idea and records it with the help of Matt and Matt. Then, just like producing a song for an album, the band sorts through the recorded ideas and structures them into songs. Then they add more sounds to to the recording to fill out the texture. After the song is complete, the band learns how to play it with the instrumentation they have, sometimes using parts of the recorded material in their live set as backing tracks.

The band's personality is certainly derived from each member individually.
Mike Harned is a composition major at Lebanon Valley College, and is interested in so much more than what a liberal arts education can offer. This leads him to many different areas of personal study. Many of these areas revolve around art and history which he tends to write songs about. For example, "The Nightmare" is written about the little ice age from 1550-1850, but was inspired by the painting, "The Nightmare", painted by Henry Fuseli in 1781. Some of his other areas of study include cute animals, recording technology, sharks, and vacuums.

Matt Manhire was added to the band after the idea of Trees! was conceived. The rest of the band members had no connection to him and randomly asked him to play bass with them through his Facebook page. He turned out to be a great addition to the band, as Matt is an incredibly happy and energetic person and keeps the band's energy up. He enjoys bass gear, including old Ampeg amps and Jeeps. He is a Music Recording Technology major at Lebanon Valley College.

Matt Dale started the band with Mike Harned and Tyler Moody (who moved away from the area in Fall 2006). He plays drums and mans the electronics. He enjoys pro audio and recording gear as well as building electronics and working with wood. He is a Music Recording Technology major at Lebanon Valley College.

Dave Fell was added to the band after Tyler Moody left the band. Dave plays guitar and dances. Dave and Mike room together at college and are best friends. He enjoys playing in his other band, Day Room and recording music on his analog four-track recorder. He is a Music Recording Technology major at Lebanon Valley College.