Adam 8*1*2
Los Angeles, California, United States | SELF
Music
Press
http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090611/ARTICLE/906111023
Most 17-year-olds have no clue who KC and the Sunshine Band are, but the teenagers in the rock/dance group Adam 8*1*2 got to open for them last week.
It was the zenith of their budding careers, as the young singer-songwriters played to an audience of thousands at the annual Taste of Pinellas event in St. Petersburg's Vinoy Park on May 31. That same day, the all-girl indie act's debut album dropped, featuring the pop singles "Higher" and "Mystery Girl."
"We feel so lucky and grateful for the opportunity to play to such a huge crowd, even though most people our age don't know the headliner," said Castille Landon, one of the group's members, who formerly attended Bradenton Preparatory Academy at St. Stephen's Episcopal School. "Going out on stage in front of all those people was amazing for us."
Adam 8*1*2 (a moniker that plays on the biblical tale of Eve eating the forbidden apple) consists of three female principals. Two of the girls, Castille (the daughter of NELCO Companies co-founder Dori Rath) and Brooklyn Skaggs, were born and raised in Sarasota and Manatee counties.
Along with bandmate Ginny Luke, the girls cook up dance tracks, lyrical ballads and self-reflective rock tunes. Ginny is a pop violinist. Brooklyn, a student from Manatee School for the Arts, is a rapper. And Castille is a soul singer, influenced by Otis Redding and Eric Clapton.
Los Angeles-based producer Christian Davis, who has toured with Destiny's Child and Christina Aguilera, engineered their album. Davis has also worked as a producer with members of the Spice Girls, Boyz II Men and New Kids on the Block.
"Ever since the opportunity for the group happened and has taken off, I've realigned my goals for the future. Our ultimate goal is to go as far as possible with this," Castille said. "Our goal isn't to be the next huge thing, but if that happens, that would be awesome."
For more information on Adam 8*1*2, visit Adam812.com or myspace.com/Adam812Music.
This story appeared in print on page E6
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- Sarasota Herald Tribune
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACT:
Ken Park
Senior Publicist
Phone: 516-606-3101
E-mail: ken@oktane.net
HOMETOWN GIRLS’ INDIE DANCE/POP GROUP TO OPEN FOR
KC AND THE SUNSHINE BAND AT TASTE OF PINELLAS
THIS SUNDAY, MAY 31st/
TAMPA, FL - (May 27, 2009) – Adam 8*1*2 is an up and coming pop group consisting of three 17 year old girls who write all of their own songs. Two of the girls, Castille Rath (daughter of NELCO Companies co-founder, Dori Rath) and Brooklyn Skaggs, were born and raised in Sarasota/Manatee counties. The group has been selected to open for 80's dance music legend KC and the Sunshine Band this Sunday at Taste of Pinellas in Vinoy Park at 4 pm. Taste of Pinellas is a three-day festival benefiting All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg. The festival drew over 100,000 attendees last year. The timing of this event is perfect, as the girls' first album drops on the same day they are honored to share the big stage with the group that made millions of teens and adults shake, shake, shake...shake their booties.
Castille and Brooklyn are no strangers to helping their community and fellow human beings. Both girls participated in a fund drive which collected over $50,000 for victims of Hurricane Katrina - but they didn't stop at gathering checks; they traveled to Pearlington, Mississippi and spent over a week onsite at ground zero preparing food, handing out donations, washing children's feet and matching them with new sneakers, cleaning shelters and working in a makeshift infirmary.
Together with band member Ginny Luke, the girls present a unique musical experience - creating seriously contagious dance tunes, lyrical ballads and haunting self-reflection rock tunes with a few surprising twists: the band features a world-class pop violinist (Ginny), a female rapper Brooklyn) and soul-scorching lead singer (Castille) who, unusual for a teen girl, draws her musical influences from the likes of Eric Clapton and Otis Redding. Most notably, the girls are committed to keeping the music clean for all audiences - and keeping their images consistent with their age. -more-
Adam 8*1*2's album was produced in Los Angeles by Christian Davis. As a performer, Christian toured with Christina Aguilera, Destiny's Child and the Backstreet Boys. As a producer, he has worked with members of the Spice Girls, Boys II Men, New Kids on the Block and Destiny's Child. Needless to say, the girls of Adam 8*1*2 are in good company.
The girls admit to being somewhat overwhelmed by landing such a huge opportunity so early in their band's career, but excitement overrides any hesitations...because that's the way (uh-huh, uh-huh) they like it.
For more information on Adam 8*1*2, visit:
www.Adam812.com or www.myspace.com/Adam812Music
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- Oktane Media
Discography
Adam 8*1*2 (2009)
Forbidden (Special Edition EP) (2010)
Photos
Bio
RIYL (recommended if you like):
feel good dance jams, negotiating your curfew, writing in your diary and preserving a healthy self-image.
Some artists will spend the length of their careers in search of their true artistic voice, continually experimenting with different styles and different ways to present themselves. While others seldom change at all and open that same closet pulling out the same sets of clothes. Curiously, Adam 8*1*2, despite their ages (17), have an unusually strong command of their music and their craft - and have a more realized musical identity than most of their peers at similar points in their career. They are in fact a diverse indie pop/dance BAND in every sense; not just an assembly of girls who can sing and dance and have been hand-picked by a producer. These girls write all of their own music and can identify with the starving artist just as easily as they embrace being independent. Their debut self-titled album is engaging, exciting, musically diverse and written to their own age, but most of all, it is an introduction to a considerable new talent - one whose music is both smart and powerful, and has the depth to stand on its own terms while giving us a welcomed taste of something comfortably familiar.
Fun Fact #1:
Castille and Ginny attended acting school together and Castille's very first acting role was playing a "hot girl" in an episode of HBO’s "Tell Me You Love Me."
Growing up in Tampa, FL, music was always something Castille loved, but even as she found herself collaborating with Ginny (and later, Brooklyn), she wasn’t sure where it would lead. Ginny had previously recorded a single with LA producer Christian Davis (R. Kelly, NKOTB, Aaron Carter, Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child, Mel B of The Spice Girls) and threw out the idea of working with Castille on some tracks (produced by Christian) that would later turn into recoding a whole album and shooting music videos. While writing songs for the record, Castille called on her friend, Brooklyn, to help with some of the writing. They demoed a few songs for Christian, but it wasn’t until they flew out to LA to sing on the tracks that it become obvious that Brooklyn’s style and energy was an integral part of what now was becoming very much a collaborative effort and the evolution of Adam 8*1*2’s musical style and diversity.
Castille: "I've written poetry and lyrics in my diary for a long time, but I never shared any of it with anyone until we started this project...Brooke, being a little more influenced by hip hop and urban culture, writes lyrics in the form of raps with catchy rhymes, Ginny, with her background in the instrumental side of music, writes lyrics that flow with the music, rather than creating music that flows with the lyrics, and with my background in literature and drama, I write in a more conceptual way where I create a story line and then fill in the lyrics. These differences in how we each approach writing definitely helps us to create an overall piece that is fresh and original.”
Fun Fact #2::
Brooklyn is related to country music legend, Ricky Skaggs
(Brooklyn Skaggs)
Their writing style has evolved in tandem with their growing self-awareness and insightfulness, both as artists and as young women. There is a maturity in the way they express themselves and how they elect to express themselves through their music. Their musical influences stretch across a pretty wide spectrum, but what they utilize and identify as inspiration from those influences is further evidence of their collective wisdom beyond their years.
Castille: “The topics I prefer to write about are directly influenced by simple, every day occurrences…My musical influences are my friends and my surroundings…I don't think about other musicians or their work as much as I think about the human condition and the events happening in my life and what I see going on around me.”
Ginny: “I am really influenced by artists that take the standards and boundaries of their art and push them (and sometimes completely open new doors) because that's what I hope to do with pop music…I began writing small solos for violin and little pop songs that consisted of a verse and a chorus at the age of 7. My parents always encouraged me to transcribe other artists' solos and even my own improv lines (violin, piano, voice, and later alto sax) and I had always been making up music and improv-ing with ensembles since an early age, but it wasn't until I was 14 that I actually wrote down and recorded what I had written… My conceptions of songs always have multi-textural lines, sometimes even counterpoint and I always want more harmonies!”
Brooklyn: “My first musical influences were my parents. My dad played the piano and organ at home and my mom always had music playing - from church hymns - to Prince - to the symphony. When I was in elementary school we had to write a lot of papers. My da
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