Halo Stereo is currently recording a new EP. I hope they have found a producer experienced in layered vox, noise and alternative genres and who can bring on the loudness!
Self-titled EP_
Last year, they released a rather weak EP that lacks the booms necessary for music influenced by Radiohead, Muse, Smashing Pumpkins and U2. You can hear the bones of a great body of work that’s missing the muscle.
The tracks demonstrate prolific songwriting and astute composition skills. I imagine that if I had gone out and seen them live, I would be impressed and would feel the need to visit the merchandise table and would take their music home. This fabricated memory would then be let down by the downgrade production. I’d play the disc for friends with the disclaimer, “They sound better live.”
And yet I have faith in Halo Stereo.
Robert Smith_ Jody Hicks_ Andrew Fry_ Will McCracken_
Three of four members of Halo Stereo have played music together since the age of 12 in Athens, Ala. The pursuit of higher education split them up. A new drummer was added, until the former drummer returned from Los Angeles. Whereas bands usually go to L.A. in search of rock ‘n’ roll dreams, the foursome has set up headquarters in Murfreesboro.
Vocalist Andrew Fry recalls Todd Lewis of The Toadies (without the range) and John Wozniak of Marcy Playground (plus the rage). If Fry were from the U.K., a Brit accent could bring comparisons to Matthew Bellamy of Muse. Although I believe “Languid Morning” and “Thorn In My Side” could use a good, defiant scream, his vocals are near perfection on “Sign” and “Sea Antler.”
Hailing from Ohio, guitarist Robert Smith became a member while studying jazz theory at Middle Tennessee State University. Outside of academia, I believe he was a student of Eddie Van Halen. Most of the time his contributions compliment the overall tone of each song, but sometimes he wails like it’s 1984. “Stairwell,” for example, goes from homemade to arena to homemade. It begins with a lap-top-esque lullaby (think solo Thom Yorke) that conjures images of a mental patient telling his story, but the riffs after the second verse and chorus are fit for a ride on the Crazy Train to Paradise City, only for the song to end with a fading electronic “whoooosh.” The high-note strains effectively killed the intro and outro aspects of inner doom. His talents, however, are proven in the tender lament “When I Found You” when the bitter (crunching grunge) with the sweet (crying blues) are combined.
All of the toe-tapping and chin-nodding responsibility falls to bassist Jody Hicks and drummer Will McCracken. While “Thorn In My Side” could’ve been a Foo Fighters tune in another life, “Delicate Machine” changes tempo when the listener would expect it to. Although predictable, it’s dependable. The bass, however, drowns on “Sea Antler” when it should shine. And to whoever is responsible for the soundscape of “Fractured Fantasy,” you managed to remind me of Keane, Muse and Morrissey – and that’s quite an achievement.
Their band is not their hobby. While their days are spent working on the General Jackson or running an eBay business and sound for a church, Halo Stereo is their life.
“The best part about being a in struggling rock band is being in the ‘crisis’ of your twenties and still bleeding for your dream and refusing to quit, while your friends start having 401k's and a mortgage,” explains drummer Will McCracken. “ The hardest part (is the) same. We are in way to deep mentally and financially to think about doing something else.”
For the past two years, they have toured the east from Chicago to south Florida with the likes of Mellowdrone, The Station Myth and Shadow Wax. Last spring, they received first place honors in a battle of the bands in Panama City Beach and were Budweiser’s Band of the Year southeast. During a college radio campaign, “Sea Antler” and “Stairwell” proved to be their calling cards.