Modern Echo
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2014
Music
Press
Those, if any, of you who have been reading EspyRock since the early days will know that I used to run a series of features every week and one of those was dedicated to featuring unknown bands. After time it became a challenge to keep running the feature every week due to time restraints. With Last.fm starting to recommend me nothing but rubbish and MySpace continuing to decline, it was difficult to find many bands as they were no longer utilizing these services to their full potential. Back then I was discovering a lot of talented bands who I felt were worth a shout out and as we all know I can’t write a review to save myself so this was my way of doing something for these bands.
Last night I was looking for a band on my iTunes, an unknown band that I came to enjoy from the US and while I couldn’t remember their name, something made me think that they were from Wisconsin. As my search came up cold I decided I would find a band from Milwaukee to feature.
Modern Echo are a four piece hard rock band featuring Jon Schweiger (vocals), Michael Joseph (guitar), Joe Alba (bass/backing vocals) and Ted Butch (drums). Having spent the better part of two years writing and recording their debut album the band couldn’t be happier with the outcome. “This was a unique project in that each of us in the band spent a lot of time with each song, and the songs went through a lot of changes before we deemed them ready to be released,” said guitarist Joseph. “It was also a huge project – a lot of bands don’t have the material or means to release a full length record initially, and although it took some time, we couldn’t be happier with the results.”
The band originally wrote twenty songs for their debut album but took twelve into the studio. Recording and mixing was handled by former Acceptance drummer and Hangnail guitarist Nick Radovanovic at Skies Fall Studios.
“The most exciting thing is getting to take these tracks out live. We’ve always prided ourselves as being a strong live band and it’s gonna be great to get these tracks out to a live audience” Joseph continued.
The two years spent working on their material has truly paid off. Instead of releasing an EP or quickly releasing an album to test the waters and see how people reacted to their music, the band decided that they wouldn’t release something that is only half baked and not as good
as it could possibly be. Modern Echo have put together an album that actually, and somewhat surprisingly for a debut, stands amongst some of the bands currently throughout the US.
You can listen to their album in full on their Facebook and you can purchase your copy while you are there. - EspyRock.com
For such a newly formed band, Modern Echo certainly show a level of maturity that a lot of other acts can only wish to achieve. This Milwaukee based four-piece play a brand of modern alternative rock that shows influence from bands like 10 Years, Breaking Benjamin and Trapt, but they also add a slight progressive touch more akin to bands like A Perfect Circle and The Butterfly Effect. This genre has been done to death over the last half-decade or so, but Modern Echo shows us just how potent and relevant this style of music can be when done right.
I really enjoyed the vocal approach here though as there is a lot of modern alternative rock bands with boring dime-a-dozen vocalists but this guy sounds great.
I can picture a couple of these tunes spinning on FM radio stations and college radio around the globe with ‘Hold On’ being the most obvious of the lot. ‘Light Your Eyes’, ‘Sleepwalker’, and ‘Here We Stand’ are also very high quality tunes that should gain a wider recognition. I was pretty impressed by the high quality of the songwriting overall on'Spirit In The Machine', and even though the modern alt. rock genre may have seemingly run its course I’m sure Modern Echo have a bright future ahead of them and I am personally happy to recommend the album to anybody that enjoys the sort of music released by bands like Trapt, The Butterfly Effect and Breaking Benjamin.
Written By ZeeZee - MyGlobalMind.com
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
It’s not often that you
find a certain level of maturity in a band that is just beginning to get
noticed in the ever growing landscape of musicians that saturate the music
scene of today. Modern Echo is one of those bands that is fortunate to possess
such a high level of musical maturity in their playing that their newest
release, “Spirit In The Machine”, is an album that is intensely saturated with
emotion.” – Kyle Chambers, EMURG
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This Milwaukee based hard rock band's music has made an
impact well outside of the midwest. You may have heard them on TV (Discovery
Channel, American Choppers, Anthony Bourdain, Restaurant Impossible, Ion TV,
MLB Network & more) or read about them in publications including My Global
Mind, Espy Rock, and Maximum Ink. The WWE is using the song 'Flatlined' as the
intro music for wrestler Kassius Ohno for all of his matches. The band also
recently signed a licensing deal with APM Music and are a part of a nationally
released Motley Crue tribute album titled 'Down At The Whiskey', available in
Best Buy and FYE now.
The band’s debut album, Spirit
In The Machine, was handled by Skillet guitarist Ben Kasica's Skies Fall
Studios and the songs cover a kaleidoscope of emotions. “It was a very intense
album to make”, offers vocalist Jonathan Schweiger. Many of the tracks have light
at the end of the tunnel lyrically, but some are more bittersweet. All of the
change and upheaval in our lives before this record played a big part in the
creative process.
To that end, the band was born out of the ashes of beloved
local bands that had, for one reason or another broken up. Each established
artists in their own right, the musicians in Modern Echo have shared the stage
with Halestorm, Trapt, Crossfade, Eye Empire, and many other excellent artists.
"The live show is something we've always been strong with, and we wanted
to make a record we could bring on the road and that plays to those
strengths," states guitarist Michael Joseph.
Élan Vital, the band’s hard hitting follow-up EP to Spirit In The Machine, breaks new ground
for the band and includes four brand new original tracks. “We wanted to
challenge ourselves to break new ground lyrically and musically. These songs
are overall heavier than our first record, but we made it a point to emphasize
a strong sense of melody with all the tracks, and I definitely think we
succeed,” Joseph says.
A killer live show and intense touring has brought Modern
Echo's powerful approach to hard rock to critical acclaim with fans, media, and
other bands alike. Although grateful for the strong response to the album, the
band considers itself first and foremost a live band. “We feel most at home
onstage, and these songs were written to be performed live,” states Schweiger. “The
songs get an extra level of intensity through that performance.”
Modern Echo is a band that walks the fine line between
aggression and melody, between intensity and nuance. “We're all pretty
different as musicians and people, but early on it was clear we were on to
something special. It's those differences in personality and past experiences
that can actually bring people together. For us, its helped power music full of
lyrics and subjects we knew people would
relate to,” says Schweiger.
And that is what memorable bands are all about.
Band Members
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