The Coming Weak

From the smallest state in the U.S. comes a band that possesses one of the biggest sounds we’ve heard in eons, point-blank, period! Providence, Rhode Island’s The Coming Weak are today’s featured artists, and their track “Memories Remain” is a heat-seeking missile mix of killer lyrics, monster riffs and driving percussion! Fans of Jimmy Eat World, Saves The Day and Early Thursday will most definitely dig these guys in a major way! Have a few listens to this track and it will no doubt get its hooks into you! - Myxer Tones

... local heavy-hitters....The Coming Weak

Providence quintet the Coming Weak just dispersed a two-song “teaser EP” titled Navigation. Both “Map to Forever” and “Dead Reckoning” rock decidedly harder than most of their debut EP, Consider This. Hearing the two new tracks, one would assume the Coming Weak are forging a path toward fully cranking it up when the band heads into the studio to complete another EP due out next spring.

“Musical direction is nearly impossible to predict,” bassist Jeff Langmaid said via email earlier this week. “Right now we are most concerned with becoming better players, writing the best songs we can, and challenging our creative sides.”

TCW had some rabid fans in tow at Lupo’s in August when they opened for Penrose, and they’re expecting the same on Friday. “All the local bands we’re playing with are good friends, so we’re looking forward to the camaraderie,” Langmaid said. The band is currently booking a tour that will take them to the Midwest and back in January. - The Providence Phoenix/ Chris Conti

Engineered by Michael Poorman and Darryl Rabidoux at Strangeways Recordings, Providence, RI | Mastered by Ian Kennedy at New Alliance East, Cambridge, MA
Consider This, a five song EP from Providence, Rhode Island’s The Coming Weak, provides an enthusiastic glimpse into the intersections of punk and hard rock. From Tim White’s upper-register vocal delivery to the dual guitar work of Jamie Thomas and Matt Tremblay, Consider This is a smart example of the artful collision of both rock techniques and obvious influences.


The Coming Weak build their brand of rock on a pop-punk foundation complete with unyielding, chunking guitar parts and simple, fast-paced drums. To this the band adds heavy distortion, big rock cymbals, and energetic guitar fills to fortify their punk style with a more aggressive approach to the introspective lyrical content of the CD. Classic hard rock techniques, like the pick slides on “The Last Laugh” and the vibrato-heavy lead flourishes on “Memories Remain” seem to take Consider This out of the realm of punk and into straightforward rock territory.


The highlight of the EP is the coordination of the rhythm section in providing a solid framework for the expressiveness of White’s vocals and a number of searing guitar breaks. The drums are tidy and assured, though they are far from lacking in cymbal thrashings and snare fills. The rhythm section is definitely not lacking in exploring their way through a series of coordinated starts and stops underneath a selection of hooky melodies and phrases.


While Consider This boasts a thick layering of alternative, punk, and rock influences, the tracks are somewhat uniform in structure, and the vocal parts begin to sound repetitive on the second half of the CD. White sings mostly about things broken or breaking, things “fading away,” and even someone who “paints [him] in a somber gray.” Nonetheless, The Coming Weak manage to craft a collection of catchy, vigorous rock songs that sound as fun to play as they are to listen to. (Self-released)


http://www.performermag.com/nep.recordedreviews.0805.php - Northeast Performer Magazine

Cut from the earnest and emotional mold of bands such as Taking Back Sunday, Coheed & Cambria, and our own Monty Are I, the Coming Weak is one of the area's fastest-rising combos. They have chops, both instrumentally and as songwriters, as well as the wisdom currently required by the music business. With a new EP, Consider This and some momentum behind them, drummer John Berard sheds some light via e-mail on the band, its history, and its ambitions. Jeff Langmaid, Tim White, Jamie Thomas, and Matt Tremblay co-star.

Tell me what inspires the coming weak as a band.
Collec¬tively, we draw a lot of our musical inspiration from the bands that we grew up with in the late '90s/early '00s — Saves the Day, Further Seems Forever, and Jimmy Eat World. We don't pigeonhole ourselves into having a specific sound — the inspiration for a vocal melody might be lifted from a Beatles song while the underlying guitar arpeggio sounds like an Iron Maiden lick. Our goal is to draw from every one of our inspirations and try to create something unique out of all of that.

What prior experience do band members have?
Tons. I started out playing with the Double Nuthins when I was 16. Later, I was a member of the Magnums and Goat Island. I was a member of Suicide Liquors for five years, and I still moonlight with them. Jeff is from Coventry, but moved to Florida for school for eight years. He was in a few bands down there. Jamie's experience has mainly been in the South County noise/grind band, Hogg. Matt played in the Gradual, and Tim has never played in a band, but as a theater major, he was classically trained and is a stalwart in the Bristol scene, often teaming up with Colby James to perform acoustic throughout the East Bay.

What are you looking to accomplish with this record?
We're looking for our music to reach as many new and different people as possible. We knew that we needed a professionally recorded and produced record to be able to support with touring and sell at our shows. The days of the demo tape are pretty much over. We're going to be sending the record to various labels to try to get their attention. We work really hard, so we don't need anyone to throw tons of money at us, nor do we really want that. But if the right label comes along and is willing to work symbiotically with us, we're definitely not going to say "No."

What are your immediate plans?
Right now, we're trying to play as many shows as we possibly can. We'll be playing dates in New York, Con¬necticut, Pennsylvania, and Maine. We're booking dates for our first-ever jaunt down the East Coast in June, touring for two weeks to Florida and back. We also have plans to record a limited-release seven-inch single in the summer, and we're writing songs for a full-length record, which hopefully we'll begin recording in early '09.

What are your thoughts on the local scene?
Rhode Island has a ton of great and talented local bands. [But] the shortage of places to play has definitely contributed to an overall indifference in local music over the past 10 years or so, and there hasn't really been an escalation in the amount of shows kids are booking at VFW halls and high school auditoriums to make up for that. We're working with our friends in Penrose, booking shows at alternate venues, playing with locals and bands traveling from nearby states. We want to get kids excited about Rhode Island bands again, and we're trying to resuscitate the DIY ethic we grew up on and we see in other scenes to try to get kids back out to local shows. It's nothing a little hard work can't fix! - The Providence Phoenix

TNP: What is your name and what do you do in The Coming Weak ?

JB: My name is John Berard, and I play drums in The Coming Weak.

TNP: How did you come up with your band's name?

JB: The name was thought up by our old guitar player. Basically, it's a reference to our vulnerability as humans. No matter how tough we are (or we think we are), there's an inherent weakness in all of us, a soft spot, if you will. It's the opposite of "going strong," and sometimes, even the most indomitable of people have moments where they need a little help from those around them. We are all human, and our name kind of acknowledges this.

TNP: Is there a story about how your band came together or were you all friends before?

JB: The project which was to later become The Coming Weak actually started a full two years before we officially became the band you see before you today. Our old guitar player Nathan and I had been playing with various people, trying to get some sort of momentum, and we just couldn't seem to get anything going. I was resigned to give up and focus on going back to school when I came across a Craigslist ad from Jeff. He was moving back to RI after 8 years in Florida and was looking to start up some sort of project. He was about the same age and had the same musical interests as me, so I figured "why the hell not?" At about the same time, we were on a desperate search for a singer. An acquaintance introduced us to Tim, who wowed us immediately with his vocal prowess. So the four of us started playing together and writing a bit. At this time, Jeff switched to bass, as we could find nothing but guitar players who wanted to play. So we went through a couple of those before we found Jamie, who was an old friend. Nathan left the band shortly after we recorded Consider This, and after a hearty search, we found Matt and the rest, as they say, is history.

TNP: How would you describe your music to listeners who haven't heard of you?

JB: We have actually struggled to come up with a good answer to this question! I guess officially, we're a rock/alternative band with hints of post-hardcore. Unofficially, I sometimes describe our music as "awesomecore," but this moniker has yet to be on the tongues of the rest of the world. We all draw separately from our influences, and I think that's really apparent in our music. Our collective taste in music is so extraordinarily eclectic that it's hard to kind of place a label on. So that's the long answer. The short answer is a Anberliney/Baysidey/Saves The Day/Jimmy Eat Worldey kinda thing.

TNP: How has being from Rhode Island affected your music if at all?

JB: As far as RI being referenced in our music - it hasn't surfaced yet. I do love bands that reference their homes in their music - I notice a lot of Chicago bands doing this - and I'd love to someday write an ode to The Biggest Little. I guess the closest we've come to showing our love for RI is in the artwork for Consider This. As we are the Ocean State, we decided to celebrate that in the photography and theme of the artwork. The front and back covers show the water from Colt State Park in Bristol, and the interior photography was taken at Ocean Drive in Newport, which is probably the most gorgeous stretch of seashore in the whole state.
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TNP: Who are some of your musical influences?

JB: We all have very eclectic tastes in music, and individually, draw from all of those at different times. Collectively, we're all fans of the late-90's/early 00's scene music - The Get Up Kids, Jimmy Eat World, Saves The Day, etc - but we listen to everything from The Beatles to Brand New to Motorhead to Phish. Personally, I unconsciously find myself playing like Tony Thaxton from Motion City Soundtrack. I just love the way that dude hits the drums. It's "simplistically intricate." I'm also a huge fan of the Descendents, so I bite a lot of my moves from Bill Stevenson.

TNP: What do you like best about being in this band?

JB: Playing music with my best friends. That's easily the thing that keeps me going. I also love traveling all over the place with them - exploring new cities and meeting new people. It's really exciting to do that, and to be able to make music along the way, well, who can argue with that?

TNP: What is your funniest/craziest story from a show you've done?

JB: We played a show in a garage in New York this past summer, and in between acts, some of the attendees staged a live re-creation of the Little Joe vs. Don Flamenco fights from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out! which pretty much ruled. Also, during the act before us, bowls of cereal with milk were passed around as mid-show snacks. It was very interesting. But we'd totally do it again.

TNP: What is your favorite place to perform (city or venue)?

JB: Well, we haven't really been around the country enough as a band to say that we love particular city or venue yet, so I guess we'd have to say our hometown of Providence. It's where our heart is and where our biggest and most enthusiastic fans are, and it's always great to play a show at home. In fact, even if this question were asked after we've been all over the country, we'd still say that home is where the heart is.

TNP: If you could share the stage with any band or artist, who would you choose?

JB: If we could book our dream show with only bands that are currently active, it would have to be this bill: Jimmy Eat World, Saves The Day, and Thrice. If there was any one band in history that I would rock with if I could, it would most definitely be The Clash. They were the only band that mattered.

TNP: Who/what are you currently listening to?

JB: I've actually been on a huge retro kick. I've been listening to a lot of my older music - The Clash, Elvis Costello, etc. I've also been listening to The Beatles non-stop for the past month. As far as newer stuff goes, I'm still way in to the new Motion City Soundtrack record, and I'm absolutely cuckoo for Four Year Strong's Rise Or Die Trying.

TNP: Since we are primarily a comedy-centered website, what is the funniest joke you've heard recently?

JB: Actually, I try and make it a point to listen to some comedy routines at least once a day. I love comedy, and I'm a funny guy, but I can't tell a joke to save my life. I absolutely suck at it. So I leave the joke-telling up to the professionals. I would say the funniest joke I've heard recently is actually one of my favorite Mitch Hedberg routines: Sesame Seeds. I won't recount it here because, as previously stated, I am awful at joke retelling. Hearing him say "it's a street! It's a way to open shit!" makes my bust out in tears every single time.

TNP: Do you have any shows coming up? If so, what are the dates and locations?

JB: We actually have a pretty busy month coming up - we've got a few shows in our home state of RI, but we'll also be making treks to Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, upstate NY, and New York City during the course of the month. All of our upcoming shows, as always, are listed on our MySpace page, www.myspace.com/thecomingweak.

TNP: What are your plans as a band in the near future?

JB: Our immediate plans basically consist of playing shows. Lots of them. All over the place. We're going to be touring our behinds off all over the northeast for the next few months or so. We also have a two-week tour of the east coast scheduled for June that will take us down to Florida and back. Beyond that, we'll be recording a limited edition 7" single during the summer, as well as continuing to write for our full-length record, which is scheduled to be recorded in early '09.
Courtesy of www.myspace.com
www.myspace.com/thecomingweak

TNP: Where can readers go to hear more of your music?

JB: As always, the best place to check us out is on our MySpace page, www.myspace.com/thecomingweak. Feel free to add us and leave us messages and comments, too! They really brighten our day!

TNP: How can readers purchase a copy of your EP?

JB: The record can be digitally downloaded on our MySpace page and is available for download on iTunes as well. It can also be purchased at select Newbury Comics locations in the northeast, and very shortly, the physical copy will be available for purchase through our website.

I'd like to thank John for taking the time to answer our questions. The Coming Weak are a promising band with a fresh and catchy sound. Be sure to check out "At Least Nobody Got Hurt" right here on the top of the page, then head over to www.myspace.com/thecomingweak to hear more!

http://www.thenicheplayers.com/news/music.php?id=1208306635 - The Niche Players