The Courage

The Courage
Origin Seattle, Washington
Genres Folk rock[1]
Americana[2]
Acoustic
Indie[1][3][4]
Years active Circa 2005-present
Labels Independent
Associated acts Garage Voice
Tom Rorem
Paper Mache
Karli Fairbanks
Ben Blood (Photographer)
National Theatre Project
Website http://thecourageband.com
Members
Noah Gundersen
Abby Gundersen
Ivan Gunderson
Travis Ehrentrom

Michael Porter
Chris Judd
Michael Rabb
Drew Konzelman

The Courage (formerly known as "Noah Gundersen & the Courage") is an indie band initially started in Centralia, Washington by siblings Abby & Noah Gundersen and expanded to Travis Ehrenstrom and Ivan Gunderson. The group has two EPs, a live CD, and a studio album. Before the removal of Noah Gundersen's name from the title and the incorporation of the entire band, a majority of the songs were written and recorded by Noah and Abby.

Contents

Biography

Noah Gundersen began playing music when he was 10 or 11 years old when his parents had him take piano lessons. Later he taught himself to play the guitar and recorded songs with his father's recording equipment. Around the age of 16, Noah was performing solo in local cafes. His sister Abby began to accompany him with violin and harmonies in 2006 .[4] Noah Gundersen & the Courage began in 2006 in Centralia, Washington.[5] They began playing shows throughout the Washington/Oregon region, and quickly gained a fan base there. Noah's first CD, "Brand New World" (recorded by himself, Abby Gundersen, and Michael Porter) was recorded in Eugene, Oregon in a home studio.[6] It began to be sold on the internet in 2008.[7] That summer, an internet hacker named "andrewlandon" discovered Noah Gundersen's music and stole his song "Winter" (as well has three songs by a neighboring musician, Jacob White, and several other artists) and put it on his own MySpace.

In mid 2008, Live at the Triple Door, the band's first live CD was released independently as they toured throughout the west coast. In May, Noah and Abby made another western tour with Garage Voice and Tom Rorem, an ensuing two month tour alongside Chelsea Seth of Paper Mache occurred that August. On October 9, The Courage played a show at The Q Cafe to release Noah's newest album, "Saints & Liars". Paige Richmond, a Seattle Weekly reporter attending the show gave the band's performance and new CD an outstanding review, titling the review "Noah Gundersen Brings Q Cafe Crowd to Its Feet"[8] As winter set in, the band became stationary while Abby began to pursue her college education and the other three set out finding other jobs. Noah Gundersen & the Courage continues to rehearse and play shows in the WA/OR area at venues such as The Round and the Triple Door, while staying less active.[9]

On December 10 at midnight, The Courage released a new song on their myspace, "Moles", which is the only studio recording of The Courage. The song was only on their music page for a few days but physical CDs were released when they performed at the Triple Door on December 29. In the following February, the track "Middle of June", off of Saints & Liars, appeared on an episode of One Tree Hill.[10][11]

The band announced through their new website, as well as with an interview with Seattle Weekly, that their first full-length album would be released in the summer of 2010.[12] The album, according to Seattle Weekly, marks a transition in the band as the group moved from a singer/song-writer led band fronted by Noah Gundersen—one that frequented solo acoustic songs—to a functioning unit that creates songs that incorporate the entire band.[13] Noah Gundersen has even considered removing his name from the band's title.[4][5]

Recording for The Courage's studio album began on March 16 of 2010. The band announced their progress with several updates through their Twitter account revealing that on the 27th of March, they had finished recording the album and in early July, they had started mixing the album.[14] The album is the first full-length recording to be released by The Courage.[15]

Fearful Bones and name change (2010-present)

By the beginning of August 2010, recording, production, and mixing for the new album had been completed in a barn in Sisters, Oregon. On August 3, the band announced the change of their title as well as the name of their debut album via their Twitter page,

The name of this band is The Courage. Our new CD is titled 'Fearful Bones'[16]

A new song, "Frequency," was streamed for free off of their official website in the beginning of September. On September 11, The Courage played a release show for Fearful Bones and followed up with a three week tour of the West Coast with the album's producer, Matt Lee, playing lead guitar.

The Local Lounge

On January 11, 2009, Noah Gundersen played live for 45 minutes on KCDA during the "Local Lounge". He performed the songs "Poor Man's Son", "The Ocean", and "No Fairness" and aired the songs "America", "Nine Pound Hammer", "Current State of Things", and "Oh, Momma".[6]

Live performances

The Courage's live performances vary greatly from Noah's studio recordings: while the studio recordings are usually only Noah and Abby Gundersen, the entire band takes part in performing live. The line-up is also constantly changing, guests may appear at shows with additional guitars, saxophones, and other instruments.

Members

The core of The Courage is

But additional artist play varying roles in the Courage, often playing with the band live

Discography

Noah Gundersen and the Courage

The Courage

Noah Gundersen

Compilations

The Courage's song, "All You Know," was released on Building Burning Record's 16-track compilation called We Love This Comp. Vol I on March 29, 2011.[18] The album features several Oregon based folk and indie bands.[19]

Associated acts

National Theatre Project

Bassist Travis Ehrenstrom leads an acoustic Oregon based band, National Theatre Project.[5][20]

Beneath Oceans

Noah Gundersen was frontman and singer for a post-hardcore group called Beneath Oceans. While the group was active, the band played shows throughout the West Coast, and recorded an unreleased EP. At the end of 2008, with the departure of Keelan O'Hara, Gundersen announced that the band was done.
Beneath Oceans Myspace profile

References

  1. ^ a b http://www.thefalcononline.com/article.php?id=6584
  2. ^ http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/noahgundersen2
  3. ^ http://www.last.fm/music/Noah+Gundersen
  4. ^ a b c http://penandpaige.com/blog/clintons-ham-it-up-noah-gundersen-sets-precedent/
  5. ^ a b c http://www.tsweekly.com/sound/music-features/the-passionate-life-getting-philosophical-and-sun-tanned-with-noah-gundersen-and-the-courage.html
  6. ^ a b http://www.1031kcda.com/pages/LocalLoungeHome.html?feed=233962&article=4808856
  7. ^ http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/noahgundersen
  8. ^ http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2009/10/live_review_noah_gundersen_bri.php
  9. ^ http://www.noahgundersen.com/
  10. ^ http://www.tvfanatic.com/2010/02/one-tree-hill-music-the-last-day-of-our-acquaintance/
  11. ^ http://www.oth-music.com/episode718.html
  12. ^ http://thecourageband.com/Home.html News section
  13. ^ http://blogs.seattleweekly.com/reverb/2010/02/last_night_noah_gundersen_cove.php?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
  14. ^ http://twitter.com/TheCourage The Courage Twitter account
  15. ^ http://thecourageband.com/TheBoards.html Boards -> Posts from the band -> New blog from Abby
  16. ^ http://twitter.com/TheCourage August 3rd, 2010
  17. ^ http://www.facebook.com/pages/Noah-Gunderson/66583399539#!/pages/Noah-Gunderson/66583399539?v=wall
  18. ^ http://burningbuildingrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/we-love-this-comp-vol-i
  19. ^ http://www.whatsup-magazine.com/2011/04/13/cd-reviews-april-2011-various-artists-we-love-this-comp-vol-1/
  20. ^ http://www.myspace.com/travisehrenstrom

External links