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The Urgency, Urgency self-titled self-titledDetails
Title: self-titled
Release date: 1 September, 2008
Record label: Mercury/Island/Def Jam
Single: Fingertips
Official website: The Urgency
Wikipedia: The Urgency
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The Urgency was never a normal band with a predetermined course. The group started with Kevin Coffrin and Ian Molla, childhood friends who grew up together in Vermont. "There's a lot of time there to live a laid-back lifestyle," Molla says. "So you have to figure out how to entertain yourself and what you want to do."
What Coffrin and Molla wanted to do was music. The two friends played together in a variety of bands, which they continued as they both started college and there they met Guerin Blask, their eventual drummer.
Recently, Ryan Siegel, frontman/guitarist for a Long Island band, The Rivalry, joined the band to add some additional guitar heft. "They had contacted me before, as fans of my band," Siegel says. "But it's odd: from the moment I heard them, I knew they were the band I wanted to be in. I even sort of jokingly suggested that if they ever had an opening to give me a call." When the opportunity came, Siegel had no problem switching roles, giving up the frontman duties to concentrate on guitar. "Hey, I could never touch the way Tyler sings," he admits.
Another element hindering the group's process was a growing dissatisfaction with their various singers. Fortuitously, they happened upon Tyler Gurwicz , a musical theater major and someone who had grown up outside of the group's hometown.
In Gurwicz's impressive pipes, the group found its focus and melodic center. "I've never tried to sound like anyone," the frontman admits, noting that his soaring vocals often get compared to everyone from Sting to Yes's Jon Anderson. "Actually, I've never really listened to a lot of the singers I'm compared to. I just kind of created my own thing."
With Gurwicz in the group, things quickly fell into place...including the band's first big break. After hooking up with industry veterans Evan Rogers and Carl Sturken (SRP management, who discovered Rihanna), the band met producer David Bendeth.
"He told me he loved our music; I hadn't even told him I was in a band!" says the guitarist. Apparently, Bendeth, a well-versed music vet (with credits ranging from Breaking Benjamin, Paramore, to Bruce Hornsby) checked out Molla's profile, noticed his group, listened to a few tracks, and instantly fell in love. During the initial recordings, the group found themselves locked in what they called "Bendeth Boot Camp," an exacting process where the producer tore down the group musically. "He really breaks you down because he cares," explains Molla. "He wanted us to discover our basics, and hone in our groove, our feel."
It worked. Though diverse, the songs on The Urgency's debut remain consistently powerful and intensely memorable. "Fingertips," which impacts Alternative on August 19th, the opener and band's first single, is a steamy, sexually charged rocker about seduction. Elsewhere, the group weaves in elements of punk ("Crimes," which starts soft and explodes into a speedy chorus), Police-style rock ("Stop"), contemplative pop ("Memories") and even ventures into the ethereal, as the dreamy, muffled "Lullaby" gently winds down the album. But even as the songs weave in and out, the "groove" that Bendeth and the group wanted is ever-present.
New singer, new guitarist, new album: After years of jamming around, the little group that Molla and Coffrin started in Vermont has suddenly vaulted forward in the music world, and at a considerable rush. In a way, the band's name is now more apt than ever. "Our name, The Urgency, is really about the circumstances of me joining this family," says Gurwicz. "They had been searching for years for the right singer. Then we met, and it all just clicked into place at once. We just want to keep moving with that same urgent feel."
tour dates
August 13 - The Conservatory - Oklahoma City, OK
August 14 - Prophet Bar - Dallas, TX
August 15 - Java Jazz - Houston, TX
August 16 - Rock Bottom - San Antonio, TX
August 17 - Stubb"s BBQ - Austin, TX
August 19 - Launch Pad - Albuquerque, NM
August 20 - The Clubhouse - Tempe, AZ
August 22 - The Cobolt - Canoga Park, CA
meet the band
The band consists of:
Tyler Gurwicz, vocals;
Ian Molla, guitars;
Kevin Coffrin, bass;
Guerin Blask, drums;
Ryan Siegel, guitars.
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