Whiskers (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article may not meet the general notability guideline or one of the following specific guidelines for inclusion on Wikipedia: Biographies, Books, Companies, Fiction, Music, Neologisms, Numbers, Web content, or several proposals for new guidelines. If you are familiar with the subject matter, please expand or rewrite the article to establish its notability. The best way to address this concern is to reference published, third-party sources about the subject. If notability cannot be established, the article is more likely to be considered for redirection, merge or ultimately deletion, per Wikipedia:Guide to deletion.
This article has been tagged since January 2008.

This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

This article is orphaned as few or no other articles link to it.
Please help introduce links in articles on related topics. (December 2007)

Whiskers

Background information
Origin	Long Beach, California, USA
Genre(s)	Experimental rock, Psychedelic rock, Folk rock
Years active	2007–present
Label(s)	Independent
Associated acts	Arthastrata, Kosovo
Members
Alex Noble Matthew Hill Mike Martinez
Former members
Kyle Belgium

Whiskers is an American rock group from Long Beach, CA. The group was founded by Alex Noble and Matthew Hill in 2007. Their style is commonly considered progressive rock, with alternative, psychedelic, and folk influences. They are known for their highly emotional, improvised live shows and for their unconventional songwriting.^[1]

[edit] Overview

Whiskers began when Alesandro Nobilei (born Alexander Noble) and Matthew Hill met in college at CSU Long Beach. Since both of them lived in the dormitories, they frequently played music together. Mike Martinez, the third member and a personal friend of Hill, was added to the group in late October of 2007, two months after the band had formed. The lineup at that point consisted of Nobilei on keyboards, synthesizers, and piano, Hill on acoustic and electric guitar, and Martinez on drums and assorted percussion.

The band quickly ran into trouble trying to find a bass player. Eventually, Hill recruited bassist Kyle Belgium, whose background with various indie bands in the Southern California area led him to a spot in the group. The band enjoyed his presence, until he promptly left the group in late November that year.

Martinez was dropped from the band in the summer of 2008 due to scheduling conflicts. Currently, the band consists of its main duo, Hill and Nobilei. Nobilei, who has remained as the keyboardist and synthesist for Whiskers since the beginning, is now much more of a songwriter. Nobilei makes use of such music computer programs as FL Studio and Soundforge to write, structure, and mix all of Whiskers tracks, as well as program bass, drums, pads, and percussion. Hill remains as the lead guitarist and vocalist, often contributing his own material to the duo.