Diagram (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Diagram
Origin	Philadelphia, US
Years active	2003–present
Genres	Experimental, Ambient, Indie
Labels	Independent
Members	Joe Patitucci (2003-present) David Bohl (2003-present) Matt Buehler (bass, 2003-2004) Alex Tyson (2004-2005)

Diagram are an experimental post-rock band from Philadelphia, PA formed in 2003. The band has released three EPs, the most recent being "History of the White Flag". After releasing two EPs and touring in 2005, the band is currently writing a new album.

1 History
2 External links

[edit] History

Diagram, in their earliest incarnation, were a three-piece experimental rock band with Joe Patitucci (vocals, guitar, bass, electric piano, samples), David Bohl (guitar, synthesizer, electric piano, drum programming) and Matt Buehler (bass).

Notable for the exceptional amount of equipment they would bring with them on stage, the band's early music revolved around loops, samples and drum machines that were pre-sequenced by Joe and Dave with the band essentially playing along to these sounds live while also making subtle tweaks and manipulations.

They played their first gig together (as Menocu) at the Khyber in October 2003 and finished mixing their first self-titled EP 6 months later.

After Matt Buehler left Diagram to pursue a career in culinary arts the band was joined by multi-instrumentalist, Alex Tyson. Only 19 at the time, Alex brought a wealth of knowledge and experience in live programming, allowing the band to create sample-oriented music on the fly rather than in the studio. Their first sessions brought out some truly revolutionary recordings - merging together post-rock styled guitar with layers of effected keys led by wandering synth-bass and a wash of human-controlled (rather than traditionally pre-programmed) samples and drum machines.

This new sound, along with their desire to distance themselves from an increasingly popular Mr. Show skit about a talking house that inspired the project, brought about conversation within the band of a possible name change.

The group compiled a list of 70 names, 69 of which were all scorned by at least one member of the band. The only words they had in common were diagram/diagrams, which led to an inevitable (s) or no (s) question. With no end in sight to their personal preferences, the band left its name to chance with Dave, Joe and Alex each flipping an (S) Scrabble tile. Two S's landing face down made it clear to everyone in the room. From that day forward, these three musicians would be known as Diagram.

With a new name under their belts, Diagram self-pressed and released their "Fig. 1" EP, before setting out on their first international tour. Traveling across the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada, the group met like-minded artists, musicians, and fans from Montreal to Pittsburgh.

Propelled by this new interest and inspiration, Diagram returned to the studio in the Fall of 2005 to record their second EP, entitled "History of the White Flag." The CD was released in November, and after a weeklong string of shows in Ithaca, Buffalo, Toronto, New York and Philadelphia, the band was all out of CDs, out of a van (which died the night of their last show in their hometown) and out of money.

Not lacking inspiration, the band returned to their studio to start writing again. They are currently in negotiations with several record labels and expect to have their first full-length album out by the Fall of 2006.