Adelphi (band)

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Adelphi
Origin Towson, Maryland, USA
Years active 2002–present
Genres Rock, Pop
Labels Drive-Thru Records
Members Ryan Keaton
Alex Sophocles
Matthew Thomas
Thomas Haller

Adelphi is an American rock band, based in Towson, Maryland. They formed in 2002 and were signed to the record label Drive-Thru Records.

Contents

[edit] History

Adelphi is a four-piece rock band from Towson, Maryland, a suburb about 10 minutes north of Baltimore. Guitarist/singers Alex Sophocles and Ryan Keaton had been the original members of a band called Fat Austin. Along with bassist Rusty Walters Fat Austin started off covering the popular pop-punk songs of Blink 182 and others. In 2001 the band released an EP featuring their song "On My Own" (or Brutus for their first fans), a local favorite.

By the fall of 2002 Fat Austin was known as Adelphi and within a few months of the name change original drummer Peter Hennings was out and Tom Haller was in as Adelphi's official timekeeper. The quartet recorded a DIY album entitled "Don't Pass Go" in Spring/Summer of 2003 with the help of Matthew Thomas of American University. The album was pressed and self released under the name "AdelphiRock". In the fall of 2003 Adelphi recorded 3 demo songs in an effort to attract label interest. A song called "Attention" was one of the three and it quickly helped put Adelphi in the #1 spot on the then-new Purevolume website, a spot which the band held for weeks. This garnered some label interest and in early '04 Drive Thru Records extended the offer of a demo deal to the band. Due to interest from multiple labels Adelphi instead chose to fund the completion of their own demo and recorded 3 additional songs in the winter of 2004. It was around this time that original bassist Rusty Walters was replaced by Kevin Lichtfuss. After playing these additional demos for Drive Thru records the band and label reached an agreement. Their signing was officially announced in the spring of 2004.

Adelphi is known for their innovative style and exceptionally tight live performances. Their innovation is a result of a band made up of musicians with a wide variety of influences and interests. Their relentless evolution has prevented them from writing the same song twice, resulting in a very diverse collection of demos. This relentless evolution is also rumored to be behind Adelphi's split with DTR, due to unresolvable disagreements in creative direction. The band's current status as a Drive Thru band is ambiguous. To date the band has not officially been released from their contract but for all intents and purposes both the band and the label consider their relationship terminated. In late 2006 friend and producer Matt Thomas stepped in to replace Lichtfuss as bassist. The band continues to add to their collection of demos (rumored to number well into the high 20's or low 30's).

[edit] Live Sets

To date Adelphi has completed two US tours, the first in the fall of 2004 with Homegrown, Name Taken, and Denver Harbor. The second tour was with labelmates Houston Calls and Self Against City, during the spring of 2005. Both tours focused heavily on the West Coast and Southwestern United States (though the latter made its way across the bottom of the country and up the eastern seaboard.) Adelphi frequents local venues including the Recher Theatre in Towson, as well as Baltimore's own Fletchers and the Ottobar. The band has also been known to play house parties and stage impromptu jam sessions among close friends.

[edit] Demos

Dont' Pass Go (2003)

  • Adelphi's first official release was a DIY full-length they called "Don't Pass Go." Released under the name "AdelphiRock" the groundwork for the album began in 2002 and the tracking/mixing was done by early summer 2003. Tracking for the album was done at American University's 3AM studios during many graveyard shift recording sessions. Friend/Producer Matt Thomas co-produced the album (along with the band) and handled all mixing/engineering duties. It was mastered by Kevin McNoldy at Crystalphonics Studio in Charlottesville, VA. The album features the band's former bassist Rusty Walters.

DTR Demo - Fall '03 - Winter '04

  • This demo was recorded for the purpose of shopping labels and was eventually passed along to Drive Thru Records, which resulted in the band's signing to the label in the Spring of '04. Recorded at Cloud 9 Studios near Charles Village in Baltimore City it was again co-produced by Matt Thomas and Adelphi. This go-round studio owner Mark Humphries handled engineering duties. The track list is as follows:
  1. "Ten"
  2. "Attention"
  3. "Midnight Scene"
  4. "Freddy (How to Mimic Glass)"
  5. "Bob (Engine 55)"
  6. "Innocent, Charming, and Almost Refined"
  7. 'Song Number Two (2 See Eye)"

Demo #2 - Winter/Spring '05

  • Written after the band's first national tour this demo was the first sign of Adelphi's changing sound. This demo was recorded/engineered by Matt Thomas in Ryan Keaton's basement. Copies of this demo are floating around but have been kept relatively close. The track list is as follows:
  1. "Walking on the Ceiling of the Sky"
  2. "The Wind Whispers"
  3. "Song #6"
  4. "Song #7"
  5. "Song #8"
  6. "Flores en el Mar" (Tracked/Mixed at Crystalphonics Studios)

Demo # 3 - Fall '05

  • Continuing along the evolutionary process this demo contains an even broader variety of songs, greater implementation of different styles and effects, as well as improved sound quality due to upgrading of equipment. Like Demo #2 this was tracked and engineered by Matt Thomas in Ryan's basement. The track list is as follows:
  1. "Dope"
  2. "House"
  3. "Hope"
  4. "Junga Junga"
  5. "Patrick Swayze"
  6. "Halo 2 Ruined my Life"
  7. "Rope"

Demo # 4 - Spring '06

  • This is the latest completed demo by the band. Recorded and engineered by Matt Thomas in Ryan Keaton's basement. Track list is as follows:
  1. "Aloha Bacon"
  2. "We All Come Up"
  3. "Sir Chops-A-Lot"
  4. "President Tree" (instrumentation tracked during demo #3, vocals tracked during demo #4)

3 Song Sampler - Summer '06

  • Features three of Adelphi's previous demos that have been updated and recorded at Crystalphonic Studios in Charlottesville, VA.
  1. "Aloha Bacon"
  2. "Junga Junga"
  3. "Sir Chops-A-Lot"

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

  • Don't Pass Go (2003) - Self-Released/Enthused Productions
  1. Sit and Stare
  2. Starting Point
  3. You've Said Enough
  4. Better This Way
  5. Too Far From Home
  6. Spring Break My Heart
  7. Falling in Autumn
  8. Wake Up
  9. Tommy Tsunami
  10. Acoustified
  11. All Too Soon
  12. Jack Eats Much Cake

[edit] EPs

  • Walking on the Ceiling of the Sky (2005) - Drive-Thru Records
  1. Attention
  2. Midnight Scene
  3. Walking On The Ceiling Of The Sky
  4. The Wind Whispers

[edit] External links

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