Bascom Hill
Madison, Wisconsin, United States | MAJOR
Music
Press
--fact sheet--
• The Madison-based pop/rock band Bascom Hill just won the WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) Award for Pop Artist of the Year. This marks the band’s second WAMI win –the first for Album of the Year for “Maybe.”
• The first single off their new record, “My World,” was produced by Matt Wallace (OAR, Train, Maroon 5) and was released in June 2010 on Arrival Records/Scion/Fontana (self-titled album streets 8/24).
• The video for “My World” features a cameo of Lou Ferrigno and the twin pro tennis players the Bryan Brothers. The Brothers use “My World” as their opening theme song for their exhibitions.
• Bascom Hill’s ’09 Summerfest appearance led to them being discovered by the producers of “Crash Course To Stardom.” The producers were looking for a band to take part in the pilot episode of the show, which the band recently shot in L.A.
• The band has recently toured with everyone from The Fray to Kenny Wayne Shepherd to Lifehouse and their songs have been heard on various television shows including “America’s Next Top Model,” “MTV’s Real World,” “True Life” and many others.
• Bascom Hill was also recently named XM Radio’s “Artist of the Week” on the Radar Report XMU channel
• Their five song EP showcases the single as well as some of the band’s other hook-laden songs. It also includes live performance footage and a sneak preview of the band featured on the “Crash Course to Stardom” TV show.
- Bascom Hill
Augustana College - Rock Island, Il
University of WI Madison - Madison, WI
St. Louis University (SLU) - St. Louis, MO
College of St Benedict - St Johns University, St Joseph, MN
Marian College - Fond Du Lac, WI
Iowa Wesleyan College - Mount Pleasant, IA
North Dakota State University - Fargo, ND
Valley City State University - Valley City, ND
University of Wisconsin - La Crosse - La Crosse, WI
Coe College - Cedar Rapids, IA
Northeast Wisconsin Technical College - Green Bay, WI
Moraine Park Technical College - West Bend, WI
Madison Area Technical College - Madison, WI
Moraine Park Technical College - Fond du lac, WI
Morningside College - Sioux City, IA
University of Dubuque - Dubuque, IA
Minot State University - Minot, ND
UW Green Bay - Green Bay, WI
UW Beloit - Beloit, WI
NACA Showcase - St. Paul, MN
UW Milwaukee Gasthaus - Milwaukee, WI
UW Madison 770 Club - Madison, WI
UW Fond du lac - Fond du lac, WI
Marqette University - Milwaukee, WI
Saint Louis University's - The Billiken Club - Saint Louis, MO
UW Stevens Point - Stevens Point, WI
Luther College - Decorah, IA
Madison Dorms - Sellery Hall Backyard (All Ages) - Madison, WI
St. Catherin's School - Racine, WI
National Venues:
Sunset Sessions - 2009 & 2010
Friday Morning Quarterback (FMQB) Triple A Conference
South By South West (SXSW) - Austin, TX
Summerfest - Milwaukee, WI
Camplified - 2010
Riverfest - Milwaukee, WI
House of Blues - Dallas, TX
House of Blues - Houston, TX
Shank Hall - Milwaukee, WI
Cubby Bear North - Chicago, IL
RIBCO - Rock Island, IL
Rhyth and Booms - Madison, WI
Barrymore - Madison, WI
Pabst Theater - Milwaukee, WI
Double Door - Chicago, IL
The Majestic Theater - Madison, WI
The Firewater - Dallas, TX
The Rave - Milwaukee, WI - Bascom Hill
Shepherd Express
"…one of the Midwest’s hottest acts… Their music is a natural for mainstream radio…" - Brian Barney - April 27, 2006
"Take the time to see them now, so you can say you saw them before they got big."
Eric F. Lipton
thedailypage.com - Isthmus - March 31st 2006 Vol. 31 No.13
America's Next Top Model/Super Station
•Song "My Way Home" Episode 503
America's Next Top Model/Super Station
•Song "My Way Home" Girls Who Need A Miricle
Cheerleader Nation/Lifetime
• Song " Maybe" Episode101
• Song "I Can Fly" Episode 102
• Songs "I Can Fly", "For A Moment" Episode 104
Date My Mom/MTV
• Song "Thank You" Episode 301
• Song "Day After Day" Episode 305
• Song "El Conejo" Episode 312
Made/MTV
• Song "Thank You" Episode Jordan Prom Prince
Next On MTV/MTV
• Song "For A Moment" Episode 217
Real World Denver Launch/MTV
• Songs “Day After Day” and “Angels Weep” used.
Real World Road Rules Challege, Gauntlet 2/MTV
• Song "Maybe" Episode 1109
• Songs "Angels Weep", "Maybe", "Step Right Up" Episode 1110
Two A Days/MTV
• Song "Maybe"Episode 201
• Song "My Way Home" Episode Cram Session & 206
Quads/MTVU
• Song "Thank You" Episode 201
Parental Control
• Songs "Angels Weep" Episode 308, "For A Moment"Episode 314 & 409, "El Conejo"Episode 418 & 426, "Maybe" Episode 410, "Step Right Up" Episode 434
Engaged and Underage/MTV
• Song "Day After Day" Episode Jenn and Jake
I M From Rolling Stone/MTV
• Song "Mr Taylor's Class" Episode All Night Long
• Songs "Angels Weep & Mr Taylor's Class" Episode Between a Rock and a Hard Place
True Life/MTV
• Song "For A Moment" Episode I Self Injure
Jacob and Joshua Nemesis Rising/Logo
• Song "I Can Fly" Episode Meet The Twins
• Song "Stained" Episode Nashville
• Song"Staind" Episode Making of Music Of Jacob and Joshua
- BMI
Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005
www.madison.com
The Capital Times
Wisconsin State Journal
Bascom Hill: “Maybe” Arrival Records
exhibited on " tight harmonies, affecting lyrics and a breezy sound that deftly combines acoustic and electric elements, “Maybe” has an instantly ear pleasing quality that should find broad appeal.
Songs like the title track and “For A Moment” have a warm sound to them, under-pinned by acoustic guitar and organ, and Charlie Victor’s vocals are hushed and sin-cere. Songs sometimes slide into a more energetic or funky register toward the end, such as the Jack Johnson vocals in “For a Moment,” which keeps the album from ever getting too low-key.
...this is an accomplished and likable album for fans of easygoing pop-rock, no maybes about it.
- The Capital Times Wisconsin State Journal
A band featuring four Kenosha natives is getting a lot of attention these days — on the Internet and among music reviewers.
The Incredible Hulk is impressed, too.
Bascom Hill is featured in a new “webisode” series titled “Crash Course to Stardom,” which debuted in August at TheCelebrityCafe.com, an online entertainment magazine. And the group is enjoying advance critical praise for its new self-titled album, set for release Tuesday. The band is playing a CD-release concert at Milwaukee’s Shank Hall Saturday night.
A single from the album, “My World (sucks to be you),” is getting radio airplay, and the band recently premiered a new music video based on the song. Shot in Los Angeles, the video features cameo appearances by, of all people, Lou “The Incredible Hulk” Ferrigno and the top doubles professional tennis team, brothers Mike and Bob Bryan. The band recruited the celebrities for the video, and had look-alikes playing music stars such as Lady Gaga and Slash.
“I’m busy,” said lead vocalist and frontman Charlie Victor, who lives in Racine. “I’m losing more hair than I already lost — and that’s coming from a bald guy.”
“Crash Course” is a one-week “boot camp” produced by music industry veterans Jonnie Forster, Jonathan McHugh and Jonathan Platt, “designed to prepare today’s wannabes for becoming tomorrow’s somebody’s,” according to its website.
After seeing Bascom Hill’s performance at the 2009 Summerfest, the producers flew the band to Los Angeles for an intensive, weeklong basic-training-style regimen to prepare them for the big time — if they were up to it.
Instead of drill sergeants, the band met — and was often ridiculed by — producers, writers, fashion designers, stage coaches, fitness trainers, vocal coaches, hair stylists, choreographers and others.
The “drill team” included Doc Holliday, vocal coach to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.
The series debuted with a nine-minute introduction on Aug. 9, and new three-to-five minute installments are being posted periodically at www.thecelebritycafe.com/ccts.
In all, there will be 10 segments, according to the website.
“It was nice to go out there and have them beat us up for a week,” Victor said with a laugh. “They tell you you’re no good and that you need to step up to the plate. They treated us pretty much like we really were in boot camp. People made fun of us and picked on us.”
Did the band ultimately pass muster?
“You’ll have to tune in and find out, Victor said.
Cameras followed the band in rehearsals, at the house in which they lived, and doing activities such as working out on a beach, Victor said.
“A choreographer looked at our stage presence and told us we had to adjust the way we’re doing things and
be more interesting on stage,” Victor said.
“I was told I gotta interact with the audience and put on a show. It’s not just getting up in a bar and playing a song. It’s creating something the audience can relate to.”
Overall, the weeklong taping was fun, but it was also somewhat of an ordeal, he said.
“You don’t appreciate what it’s like being on other side of the camera until you
are,” he said. “It’s hard to believe people can get used to someone following you around and sticking a camera in your face — filming everything you do. It’s not natural.”
At one point, the band hung out with a record-company executive and played a song for him.
“He liked the song,” Victor said. “He said we weren’t on a crash course (with stardom) — we were on a
collision course.”
- Kenosha News
30 November 2005
The winners of the local band contest that Hanson held, Madison's Bascom Hill, opened the night with a strong performance of songs off its Maybe CD.
It was easy to see by the smiles plastered to their faces that the band's five members were having the time of their life onstage. The crowd of screaming girls could have helped a bit. Drummer Craig Walkner even dazzled the audience by throwing his drumsticks in the air and catching them with ease. - The Marquette Tribune By Heather Leszczewicz
Joe Price-Rick’s Café
September 2005 Volume 3 No 9
Rickscafe.org
High Noon Saloon August 19th
Environmental Action Benefit
"Bascom Hill ... pop rock that would be right at home among the radio hits of Creed and Hootie and the Blowfish. Their delivery was energetic and they didn’t miss a beat as they mixed acoustic and electric guitars, smooth pop vocals, and funky rhythms." - Rick’s Café
Now we know what Jack Johnson would've sounded like if he'd grown up in
the heartland instead of Hawaii. This Wisconsin pop-rock outfit plays with all
of Johnson's whispery vocal style and mellow hooks, but trades the beachy
vibe for crisp guitar melodies that glow with Midwestern sincerity.
- Editor’s Review
Discography
Bascom Hill 2010
1. Inevitable
2. All About Tonight
3. My World (sucks to be you)
4. Between Poses
5. Go On
6. Ever Wish
7. Save Me
8. Always
9. Hello
10. Mystified
11. Ivy
12. For You
Maybe 2005
1. Thank You
2. Maybe
3. For A Moment
4. My Will
5. Day After Day
6. Angels Weep
7. Stained
8. I Can Fly
9. Want Me Too
10. Mr Taylor's Class
11. My Way Home/Breathe
Limited Edition EP 2004
1. Angels Weep
2. Till I Found You
3. Open Your Arms
4. Fallen
5. People Who Say
All Songs available on iTunes
Photos
Bio
Bascom Hill in 150 Words:
Bascom Hill is a pop/rock band comprised of five guys from Madison, WI whose unique sound and pop sensibilities are reflected in their live shows and critically-acclaimed recordings. Winners of two Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI) Awards, the band has toured with everyone from The Fray to Kenny Wayne Shepherd to Lifehouse. Their songs have been heard on various television shows, including "America's Next Top Model" and MTV's "Real World." They were also recently invited by the producers of a reality-TV pilot, Crash Course To Stardom, to participate in the pilot episode after they saw their performance at Summerfest
Bascom Hill Full Bio:
The members of Bascom Hill admit they have a tough time when someone asks them what kind of music they play. Usually, after attempting a few lame comparisons, they throw up their hands and say, “Have you heard of rock and roll?”
No, it’s not “rap-rock,” “indie-rock,” “dance-rock” or any other hyphen-happy subgenre. Unlike many of their contemporaries, Bascom Hill plays a brand of music that does away with endless categorization and pigeonholing while embracing anything that’s good—all while delivering effortless sounding hooks and instantly memorable choruses.
And really, to play spot-the-influence or name-the-genre is to miss the point. Just wade into the crowd and let the music carry you until you find yourself singing along. You’ll be in good company.
While coming across as a quartet of good-natured, lager-loving lads from Kenosha, Wisconsin (setting of TV’s That ’70s Show and not far from where Richie, Ralph and The Fonz once held court), the band—vocalist Charlie Victor, guitarist Jason Sheridan, bassist Quin Stickler and drummer Tom Reschke—is more accomplished and seasoned than their unpretentious Midwestern demeanor might indicate. For starters, the irresistible songwriting is theirs, not that of hired guns, and the core Sheridan/Victor team has been together more than 15 years now, predating the band’s formation. (All four band members have played together, on and off, for more than 12 years.)
The songwriting partnership got rolling nearly instantaneously just after Sheridan and Victor met, while in a choir together during high school—yes, no kidding. “The story goes that there was a battle of the bands, and I was a pretty good guitar player, and Charlie was obviously a good singer, so we got together and wrote a couple of songs for it,” Sheridan recalls. “Instantly—at 16 years old—we were able to write songs together without ever doing it before. And we’ve been doing it ever since.”
Bassist Quin Stickler, who worked with Sheridan at a local music store, was the next to come aboard, adding bass lines to duo’s growing list of songs (forming an increasingly busy trio in the process). Following Quin came drummer Tom Reschke, who was a natural choice. He was widely known as the best drummer in southeast Wisconsin and they had all played together during their high school years. Tommy would later leave the band for a period to tour with others, only to return in 2007.
After solidifying the lineup, one thing led to another and eventually the quartet recorded two albums independently. Meanwhile, the band went to work building a loyal word-of-mouth following through well-attended shows—both close to home and around the Midwest. (The name comes from a landmark on the University of Wisconsin campus in Madison, where the band cut its teeth and is now based.)
Through the independent success of prior album Maybe, Bascom Hill has graduated to bigger stages, touring and sharing bills with the likes of Augustana, The Fray, Hanson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Lifehouse, as well as performing at festivals across the country including the world’s largest music festival and Milwaukee’s own Summerfest, Sturgis’ Harleyfest, and others.
* * *
Even if you’ve never heard of Bascom Hill, chances are you’ve heard the music. Although the band has its own label, Arrival Records, Ltd. (now distributed through Fontana/Universal), it’s already racked up constant television placements, including America’s Next Top Model, Cheerleader Nation, MTV’s Real World, Road Rules, Engaged and Underage, Next and True Life. Clearly the unassuming Wisconsinites know a thing or two about hooks.
Lead single “My World” may be the pair’s catchiest creation yet, with its brash chorus: “If you’re not living in my world / it sucks to be you!” But despite the in-your-face lyric, the tune comes from the relaxed place of blissful vacation memories, with the Sheridan and Victor families having shared many holidays over the years.
“Sometimes you just get a song that comes out of thin air,” Sheridan recalls. “And this is one of those songs that was just floating around in the universe and we just had to put on paper. It was basically written in a night-we had the whole song, but we didn’t have that last part. So we broke and went to bed.
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