www.shinobininja.com

A mercurial Merseyside four piece, Wave Machines create instinctive art-pop; rhythms built of melodic ticks and bleeps, polka dots of sound drawn together beneath Tim Bruzon’s falsetto vocal, part Beck Hansen part Barry Gibb. With their English melancholia pricked by impudent promise… Wave Machines join that eccentric lineage of home grown musical adventurers; XTC, The Beta Band, Hot Chip.

Recorded in the bowels of the old organ room at St Brides Church in Liverpool, England,  Wave Machines’ debut album Wave If You’re Really There owes much to the character of that formative space. The removal of old religious gowns from a small disused cupboard gave the band a vocal booth; the roof – or rather its view between Liverpool’s Cathedrals and out across the river – allowed the band a space to work things through; and at night the Nave became the bands live space, hosting the poetry, art, comedy and invited musical ‘competitors’ at the bands own night.

Rockford, Illinois… not exactly a hotbed of talent, although it has produced rock legends Cheap Trick, and (allegedly) the older brother from the TV hit “Blossom.” Two boys, Saam, age 16 and Jonathan, 13, become heavily influenced by both Blossom and Cheap Trick. Naturally, they form a band.

Eight years later the two reform in Chicago under the Hey Champ moniker. Much smarter and poorer, they begin a musical journey that ended up on the intersection of Gainsbourg Avenue and Jarre Lane. Needing some additional help on the keys, Jonathan calls up his old Princeton chum Pete. The two met as outsiders at one of those tea and crumpet parties where everyone wears blazers and laughs through clenched teeth. His car packed with synthesizers and a prayer, Pete left the creature comforts of the Northeast and drove straight into the musical wilderness of the Midwest.

The trio soon becomes well known around Chicago for their pop savvy and production expertise. During the summer of 2008, they received a phone call from a Mr. Lupe Fiasco, who had seen a video for their song “Cold Dust Girl” on the Internet. Within a month Hey Champ was on a nationwide tour opening for Lupe and starting to record their first album under his FNF imprint. By early 2009, “Cold Dust Girl” had been spun in clubs on every continent (conceding Antarctica) and the band had gained stature in the rock and dance communities by sharing the stage with international sensations like Justice, Sebastian Tellier, The Sounds, Midnight Juggernauts, Kid Sister, Datarock, and The Bloody Beetroots just to name a few. With a schedule including some of the biggest festivals and tours of the year, international acclaim for their hit “Cold Dust Girl,” and a soon to be released debut album, Hey Champ is poised to become…the third greatest thing to come out of Rockford.

www.heychamp.com

If you ask Todd and Eric Fink of The Giving Tree Band how much time they spend making music, your voice will not be heard above the din of their banjo and guitar, respectively. For the Brothers Fink, there is no distinction between playing music and just plain living. No two days are ever the same, as every new moment is their most creative. Their bodies and instruments become a singularity that is just trying to get in tune, stay in tune, and add a little harmony to the grand symphony of life.

When asked to cite influences, they will rarely speak of musical figures. They will proudly recite their genealogy, and celebrate the direct bloodline flowing from Mike Fink, the legendary folk hero known for his exploits on the Mighty Mississippi River. On their mother’s side, the sol smiles down on the path that connects them with Hernando de Soto, the Spanish conquistador who first discovered the aforementioned Mississippi. And so, the Finks grew up with a sacred reverence for nature, one that often collided with a reckless passion for adventure. It is only natural that their musical vision includes a plan to canoe the entire Mississippi River while touring cities along the massive waterway.

Following their lifelong desire for a band, the Finks have extended their brotherhood into an epic collective of like-minded souls, known throughout the world as The Giving Tree Band. Further inspired by extraordinary adventurers who led impressive supporting casts, the GTB has become a modern musical version of such historical outfits as Ben Franklin and The Honest Whigs, Frank and Jesse and The James Gang, and Theodore Roosevelt and The Rough Riders.

Though the story of The Giving Tree Band is still being written, it can already be said that these musical frontiersmen are redefining “virtuosity,” which is traditionally understood as dizzying displays of technical wizardry. But what is missing from this definition is the root word–Virtue. And it is upon this foundation of Virtue that The Giving Tree Band weaves their musical tapestry–by playing every single note with integrity in order to purposefully craft each part, by playing every single part with humility in order to serve the song, by playing every single song with honesty in order to resonate with the listeners at the show, by playing every single show with gratitude in order to appreciate this special privilege in life, and by playing life with a heart full of love in order to realize that it is all music, and it is all beautiful.

www.thegivingtreeband.com