patientZero

http://www.harderbeat.com/html/flipside.html (as of 8-30-05)

Rock and Roll wasn’t dead. The mid-90s cheese-pop of boy bands was just a fad, and hard rock was simply taking a breather. Now that the smoke has cleared and hard rock is back, albums like Seemingly So… are cool again.
Christopher Sarvak’s vocals are a dead ringer for platinum-selling Toadies’ front man Todd Lewis – which is a good thing! Walking the line between singing and screaming gives the lyrics a real urgency. Other 90’s influences are heard throughout the disc, including Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. It does lag through the middle, but overall the songs are just what the doctor ordered. Standout tracks are “And Sold…” and “Di-rec-tion-al-I-ty.” A nice addition is the cover of Young MC’s “Bust A Move,” a bonus track hidden at the end.
With hard rock’s resurgence, Patient Zero can pick up where bands like the Toadies left off a decade earlier. (Jason Janik)
- Harder Beat

http://www.earcandymag.com/reviews37.htm (as of 8-30-05)

The rainforest relaxation style intro of “For Carlos” sets the mood for the hypnotizing rhythms of “And Sold”. One of my favorite tracks from the cd. “Seemingly So…” is a ten song cd (eleven if you count the hidden track) of radio friendly, moody, indie pop. In medical terms, patient zero is the first person to contract a disease or the first to undergo treatment. The guys in Patient Zero hope their brand of music spreads like an epidemic. For fans of Radiohead and Incubus.
- Ear Candy Magazine

http://www.smother.net/reviews/modernrock.php3?ID=1157 (as of 8-30-05)

Hard emotional rockers Patient Zero call Cincinnati their home. Well their home has had a bludgeoning music scene that has been sharpening up their cleavers to cut into the notion that the Midwest is skippable in the music sense. Their music is a swirling mass of melodic rock-n-roll that recalls Bush—the alternative rock band not the lame Presidents. Having only been together for two years now, it’s surprising that their songs are this tight. Keep up the good work guys, I’ll be watching.

- J-Sin - Smother

http://www.citybeat.com/2005-08-17/musiclocalsonly.shtml (as of 8-30-05)


Article By Alex Hall
Patient Zero
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The ever-elusive genre tag is something all bands face. Someone always wants to know whom a group sounds like rather than what. The members of local band patientZero aren't strangers to this phenomenon. Fans will have a take-home version to weigh after the release of the band's first full-length album, Seemingly So, on Saturday at The Loft in Covington.
Ironically, one of the most interesting aspects of pZ's music is, in fact, the style. It is genuinely unlike anything else in town, yet it is easy to pull influences out of each song.

"Musician, informed listener and general audience alike have run the gamut in naming what style (patientZero is)," according to singer/songwriter/guitarist Chris Sarvak and, while the verdict is still out on exactly what style that is, Sarvak has labeled the product of the band's ingenuity "Rockfusion," citing Faith No More, Yes, Muse and Living Colour as associated bands.

With Sarvak you get crisp and striking vocals along with meaningful content and remarkable guitar playing to boot. In Sarvak's corner is Jay Ehrnschwender, whose thick bass playing and call-and-response-style back-up vocals help accentuate the group's sound. Joe Hollon's keyboard playing fills out the songs and, according to Sarvak, "is 'the sound' that gives (pZ) a unique voice." Veteran percussionist Cesar Vanegas rounds out the band with a track record spotted with performances with artists like Nils Lofgren, a testament to his level of musicianship. While the core lineup is a strong one, drummers have come and gone from the band; Seemingly So was recorded with the help of studio drummer Jeff McAllister during tracking at Downtown Recording in Louisville, Ky. Another studio drummer will be used for the band's tour in October.

The songwriting in patientZero is divided amongst the members. While Sarvak is the primary drive in terms of songwriting and local management, the end product is a different case.

"I'll come up with a song structure and bring it in to practice for everyone to put their parts to and get comments on the arrangement," Sarvak says. "So first everyone will make their comments on the arrangement, either adding, subtracting or switching parts. It definitely takes 'patientZero shape' when the other members put their parts in. Without the rest of the guys, patientZero wouldn't be what it is."

For Sarvak, playing music is the result of having a musical mother that led him to join a boys choir while in grade school, at which time he was involved with the school band playing trumpet. Family members and the music they liked were also factors. Upon discovering Rush at a young age, pursuing music became a must. Sarvak's achievements with patientZero have included gigs at M.E.A.N.Y. Fest in New York City, the Rock and Ride Music Festival in Louisville, the Midwest Music Summit in Indianapolis and the Midpoint Music Festival locally. The band also received a Cincinnati Entertainment Awards nomination for Best New Artist in 2004.

With the new album comes a lot of setup for touring, promotion and radio play, without outside help from promo companies like Crash Avenue and Tinderbox Music. With management and publicity help of this caliber, as well as the attention stirred up by their previous EP, ... free of any mindset, patientZero seem well on their way to success. This level of preparation has the band even more excited by their musical evolution since ...free of any mindset.

"The musicianship is really growing with this album," Sarvak says. "We are understanding how each one of us approaches music more, and (we are) really writing well together."

- City Beat Magazine

http://www.aidabet.com/issues/268/268reviews.html#PATIENT

Review by Jon Worley

Back in the "olden" days, we would have called this prog/hard rock/jam/whatever sort of pastiche "post metal" and been done with it. Patient Zero is a bit more melodic than, say, Mind Over Four, but we're still talking about the same ballpark.

I didn't know anyone was still trying to play this kinda thing. But I'm glad these guys are. Anthemic prog licks are really cool, especially when combined with some real sonic pounding. I suppose some folks would just call this "post-grunge" and be done with it, but there is a lot more going on here.

Not quite so whacked as Thought Industry (another great PM band), the keyboard and electronic elements are nonetheless similarly impressive. Patient Zero takes the time to create an atmosphere for each song, and then the piece progresses from that kernel of thought. It's a nice way to do things.

I suppose the clearest touchpoint for these boys is another old band called Last Crack. The leaps of melodic fancy and overall heightened sense of drama are about the same. I still listen to my Last Crack albums nearly 15 years after they were recorded, and I think these boys have some staying power that way, too.
- Aid a Bet

Located at (http://cincymusic.com/reviews/cd.php?id=54)

Nurse, get me 1200cc of Guinness, stat. I mean stout. Ahh, I couldn't resist. Even though their name screams, "communicable disease," patientZero is a tasty swirl of fusion and progressive rock styles that is much like a prescription: it looks funny on paper, but it's just what the doctor ordered. "Acquired," the first song on their 5-song EP Free of Any Mindset, distills the essence of the experiment as the jangly guitar and organ intro quickly dissolve to a heavy, exit velocity groove.

The scientific analogies are irresistible; it's part of the academic mood the music inspires. pZ throws around some ten-dollar words and tackles a range of topics with a refreshingly eclectic approach. The lyrics are also delivered soulfully and very well recorded. Chris Sarvak (guitar), Joe Hollon (keys) and Jay Ehrnschwender (bass) all make vocal contributions, whether harmonious, quirky or both as on "Direction."

Probably owing to the styles of music that the band draws influence from, the musicianship is top notch. While very palatable, all of the songs also have a degree of self-indulgent flair. Some of the squealing guitar and keyboard breaks would make Emerson, Lake & Palmer blush. The driving rhythm section (the drummerless band enlisted Jake Barton to play percussion on the disc) recalls prog-rockers like Rush and Kings X while the frequent bluesy breakdowns are more akin to jam band. Regardless, the manner in which they elevate their power rock with way-above-rudimentary playing is reminiscent of what Queensryche did for their genre.

The EP has a nice live feel, hinting at pZ's affinity for tight stage performances. Sarvak pulls off some great guitar hooks, leading to many gyration-friendly grooves. Two of the songs, "Direction" and "Misnomer," also have extended hypnotic passages. No noodling, just moody minimalism. Their comfort with the wide range of feels presented on Mindset is further evidence that pZ has a penchant for crowd pleasing dynamics.

The band certainly deserves credit for parlaying their interest in some oft-chided musical niches into their own unique, listener-friendly style, and the result is loads of crossover appeal. With any luck, pZ will spread like the plague...only without all the lesions and nausea.

- www.cincymusic.com Ezra Waller

Interview By Ezra Waller
Located at: (http://www.citybeat.com/2004-02-18/musiclocalsonly.shtml)

Chances are you've either seen patientZero or at least heard the name. For the last few months, the band has been in promo overdrive, booking diverse bills at clubs all over the area and building a reputation as a solid live act. As this articulate outfit can attest, having a unique sound requires a little more kindling to get the fire burning.
Even more impressive is that the core group (singer/guitarist Chris Sarvak, bassist/vocalist Jay Ehrnschwender and guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Joe Hollon) has been walking the schedule tightrope while juggling drummers. With Louisville native Mike Firesheets behind the kit, pZ is ready to unleash their promotional smart bomb, Free of Any Mindset. The five-song EP accurately depicts their bluesy Rock, which is spiced up with Progressive and Jazz Fusion elements.

As the official CD release approaches, I took some time to find out more about the band that everyone keeps hearing about.

CityBeat: How did you guys hook up?

Chris Sarvak: I met Jay in high school in band class. He was a lonely trumpet player, and I was the tuba with all the right moves.

Joe Hollon: I met Jay in the Mount Saint Joseph marching band. Chris I met in my first year of theory. When we were sight singing, the prof was warming up -- "me-me-mee" -- and Chris stands up and says, "It's all about you, isn't it!?" I lost it.

CB: What has influenced and inspired you?

CS: I tend to seek out different musical styles and ways of playing and eventually that translates to the creation of new songs. The ideas that will hit me are truly like gifts.

Mike Firesheets: I listen to every style of music there is, from Classical to Country to Rap to Spoken Word, because I like it all. But I also try and let it all influence me. I want to exude the composition of Classical music, the awareness of Country, the groove of Rap and the expression of avant-garde all at once.

Jay Ehrnschwender:The music itself. That is, the experience of creating original work has been my greatest inspiration.

JH: Working with great minds like Chris and Jay really helps to cultivate the creativity.

CB: Who connects with your music best?

JH: The ones that have heard it before! From what I have seen, people hear it the first time and are like, "... what?!" Then they hear it again and whatever they questioned before makes them like it the second time.

JE: Typically other musicians seem to appreciate our music the most or at least the fastest. I like to think that our music is accessible to everyone.

CB: You play a ton of gigs. How's that strategy working?

CS: After eight months of this, I'm starting to see results.

JH: We really aren't concerned about over-saturation. It seems to be going well. We are making a lot of cool friends in Cincy.

MF: It really makes me happy to have an opportunity to play out as much as I can.

JE: Networking is a huge part of becoming an established band and gigging allows us to play for new people. But I think we're lucky to have a guy like Chris who really provides us with a lot of leadership and hard work.

CB: How do you feel about the "Progressive Rock" label?

CS: I agree that patientZero has Progressive elements. But I feel it really pushes itself out there to be its own thing.

MF: There's a definite sound to Prog Rock that totally defeats the spirit of progressing music at all. Most earlier progressive musicians were classically trained, and that opened a whole world to them to push the envelope. It seems that Progressive music now simply quotes the idioms that they established.

JE: The thing I love about patientZero is that it is not based on cloning digestible music to be the next big thing. It's a group that's focused on creating our own unique sound.

URL: http://www.citybeat.com/2004-02-18/musiclocalsonly.shtml - City Beat

KARI WETHINGTON | CIN WEEKLY
Located at: (http://www.cinweekly.com/content/2004/02/18/0218patientzero.asp)

The guys in patientZero are hard core - not so much stylistically as in their commitment to playing music and to the local music scene. In fact, their 'genre' is hard to describe, because their sound covers so much territory, as attested to in their first official release, Free of Any Mindset. This five-song EP presents such a range of sounds that it's pointless to pigeonhole the band. The album, which will be released at Radio Down on Saturday, Feb. 21, presents songs that are both epic and simple, jazzy and dark.

Playing together in one form or another since high school in the late '90s, the band has changed over the years. Today, the band is composed of lead singer and guitarist Chris Sarvak, Jay Ehrnschwender on bass, Joe Hollon on keyboards and newcomer Mike Firesheets on drums. Working together as a group was never a problem for the band members, who collaborate easily, but their recent challenge has been in networking - getting their name out there in the local music scene.

"So far, it's taken a year of us just really talking to people, other bands to get the name out," Sarvak explains. "The name is starting to seep out, so that's the first step, and then we're going to build from there." Sarvak is definitely a hardcore network schmoozer, and the CD release show itself will prove that. With a solid lineup of local performers (.andrew., Wussy, Dr. Jones and Bluff) and a killer setting (newish and totally cool Radio Down), the release is sure to go smoothly.

Listening to the CD gives you the feeling that patientZero puts on a very diverse and intense live show. Sarvak says the band will be playing some new songs (written for another album in the works and set to be released in the next year or so), songs from the album and some fun covers (expect a very funky version of "La Bamba," for example). Sarvak drops hints about a Led Zeppelin cover, but he won't divulge the title, saying only "it's an epic song."

Diversity is key to patientZero's sound. Sarvak has been working on his multi-instrumental ways since the age of three and now, in addition to guitar, he plays tuba, trumpet, bass, a bit of drums and his newest obsession: Native American flute. He also gives guitar lessons.

Growing up, Sarvak says, he "made sure to stay active, in jazz and classical ... and to listen to different world music, too, to have a wide variety of influences."

Fusion is also important. "We've been tagged with the jam and progressive styles, but I feel that it's developed into a fusion of more things than that," Sarvak says. "But I really think we're creating our own fusion that identifies as patientZero.

"I think what's important for me about patientZero (is) that we create our own sound and that we don't worry about packaging a marketable three-minute pop version (of a song)," Sarvak says.

Url: http://www.cinweekly.com/content/2004/02/18/0218patientzero.asp - Cinweekly

www.sonicjive.com/mikecanter :

I have a hard time defining patientZero's sound. Maybe that's because in a world full of fast food and sex and spectacle we are constantly trying to define musical genres, in which case this is not patientZero's fault. Muse? Maybe. Tool? A little. In the broader sense of the term "original music", patientZero is truly original. I can draw influences from a number of bands, but in a refreshing twist, Chris Sarvak, Aaron Northcutt and Aaron Farrier have ultimately created a truly unique sound.

"Musician, informed listener and general audience alike have run the gamut in naming what style (patientZero is)," according to singer/songwriter/guitarist Chris Sarvak and, while the verdict is still out on exactly what style that is, Sarvak has labeled the product of the band's ingenuity "Rockfusion," citing Faith No More, Yes, Muse and Living Colour as associated bands. (quote from Cincinnati City Beat 8/17/2005).

Their CD, Inflatable Ape Nation is a diverse and mature effort wrought with political undertones and messages of morality with one track, "State Of The Union", taking a direct shot at President Bush and his cabinet. My favorite song is "Great Inflatable Ape", though "Suspension Of Disbelief", "For which it stands", and "Moral Of The Story" may arguably be considered stronger efforts.

Patient Zero is rock and roll in its true, defining sense. These aren't songs about bouncers and taxicabs and loose girls on the dance floor. This is an ambitious and utterly brilliant LP with enough power and passion that it might just rewrite the rulebook and define a genre of it's very own. Whichever way you define or categorize them, Patient Zero will ultimately slay you.
--Michael Canter - sonicjive.com 2008