2008 Woodie Awards
Under the Influence of Giants
Indie Band Invasion
Jess McCauley '07
Issue date: 10/19/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
- Page 1 of 1
Any band that references Pogs, tumbleweed, and blueberry jam as a lubricant in its own biography is bound to be all over the place. Luckily for Under the Influence of Giants, this assumption holds true, but in an intriguingly musical way. Citing influences from the Pointer Sisters (I'm so excited! I'm so excited! I'm so. . . .scared. . .) to the Wu Tang Clan to the Beatles, the average person might approach this band with some tongs and a pair of rubber gloves.
Fear not, Avid Appreciators of ColdMatthews FrayJohnson, Under the Influence of Giants will undoubtedly keep your toes a-tappin' with its disco-infused electronic alt rock.
Formed in the Los Angeles area by buddies Aaron Bruno (vocals), Jamin Wilcox (drummer/keyboards), and Drew Stewart (guitar), the group united under the common front of evoking a certain emotion from their music.
As the group began to record its original material, bassist David Amezcua joined its efforts, and the band progressed into a funk-flavored amalgamation of Prince-style R&B, pop song structures, Bee Gee-esque vocals, and effective white-boy soul that caught the attention of hipsters and mainstream music fans alike in the Los .Angeles area.
Even from a cursory glance at the band's self-titled full-length album cover, its difficult to ascertain exactly what decade the band-or the music-is from. Is the group a neo-70s soul hipster foursome? Is it (minus the one guy with the grizzly beard) the Bee Gees settling in during a plane ride to the recording sessions of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack? Is it an electronica/alt pop band from the year 2010?
It is all of these at the same time and yet not-the band manages to draw from countless artists, bands, and genres without simply rehashing what has already been done.
Since disco sucked, Under the Influence of Giants made it better. Since rock in the '70s was almost perfect, the group sampled what it liked. Since everybody loves Pogs, and tumbleweed, and blueberry jam, it referenced all, and more.
A band like Under the Influence of Giants might seem, with such widespread influences, one of those bands that completely polarizes the audience.
It is safe to say that on the band's genuine sense of basic rock, it picked what it liked-and what worked well-out of the catalogue of music history to create a sound that manages to be familiar and progressive at the same time.
The group's relesed its self-titled debut album back in August under Island Records.
Source: www.myspace.com/thegiants
Fear not, Avid Appreciators of ColdMatthews FrayJohnson, Under the Influence of Giants will undoubtedly keep your toes a-tappin' with its disco-infused electronic alt rock.
Formed in the Los Angeles area by buddies Aaron Bruno (vocals), Jamin Wilcox (drummer/keyboards), and Drew Stewart (guitar), the group united under the common front of evoking a certain emotion from their music.
As the group began to record its original material, bassist David Amezcua joined its efforts, and the band progressed into a funk-flavored amalgamation of Prince-style R&B, pop song structures, Bee Gee-esque vocals, and effective white-boy soul that caught the attention of hipsters and mainstream music fans alike in the Los .Angeles area.
Even from a cursory glance at the band's self-titled full-length album cover, its difficult to ascertain exactly what decade the band-or the music-is from. Is the group a neo-70s soul hipster foursome? Is it (minus the one guy with the grizzly beard) the Bee Gees settling in during a plane ride to the recording sessions of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack? Is it an electronica/alt pop band from the year 2010?
It is all of these at the same time and yet not-the band manages to draw from countless artists, bands, and genres without simply rehashing what has already been done.
Since disco sucked, Under the Influence of Giants made it better. Since rock in the '70s was almost perfect, the group sampled what it liked. Since everybody loves Pogs, and tumbleweed, and blueberry jam, it referenced all, and more.
A band like Under the Influence of Giants might seem, with such widespread influences, one of those bands that completely polarizes the audience.
It is safe to say that on the band's genuine sense of basic rock, it picked what it liked-and what worked well-out of the catalogue of music history to create a sound that manages to be familiar and progressive at the same time.
The group's relesed its self-titled debut album back in August under Island Records.
Source: www.myspace.com/thegiants