Band breaks through definitions

 No comments  
 E-mail Story
 Print Story
  Share

 digg it!
 Facebook
 del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit

Text Size: 

Tools Sponsor

By MICHAEL McHALE / GZO

There was a time when the guys could describe their music with ease.

The four Lincoln residents belonged to separate bands, but they all had a knack for playing pop-punk tunes. It was simple and definable. It was what they liked to do.

Today, things are more complicated. Erich Bockman and Eric Toombs, along with twin brothers Chris and Patrick Slane, have since joined together to form the local band As the City Sleeps.

[+]Enlarge

As The City Sleeps members are Patrick Slane (from left), Eric Toombs, Erich Bockman and Chris Slane. (Courtesy photo)

As The City Sleeps members are Patrick Slane (from left), Eric Toombs, Erich Bockman and Chris Slane. (Courtesy photo)

They can’t really define their style together, except that it’s a mellower, more dramatic version of what they used to play.

“An arena rock band that doesn’t play arenas yet,” Patrick Slane likes to say.

It’s something new, something different. The guys now all have the same goal, and they’ll show it off at their concert at the State Theatre tonight.

“I think one of the main things about our band that we tried to keep true to was that we really didn’t want to sound like anyone else,” Bockman said. “Sure, we would pull things from different influences and genres and stuff, but for the most part, we came up with songs ourselves.”

Before the band came together in the fall of 2006, Bockman and Toombs played in the local group Daring Escape. And the Slane twins performed in Honorable Mention. The two lineups had a similar sound, and the guys often shared the stage while playing local concerts.

They were young — either just finishing high school or just starting college — and they were changing. The four decided to band together to play a new kind of music.

“The first time we got together as a group, it was weird,” Bockman said. “We just sat around for four hours and talked about the kind of ambition we were going to go for.”

 Each told his side of the story, explaining his purpose for showing up and his influence as a musician.

The group agreed on a sound and started practicing right away, Bockman said. It took a while to escape the habits of their youth, but eventually the sound began to change.

It was more dramatic than their old ways, and certainly more complex. The band would start off loudly and end quietly or start quietly and end loudly.

Now it fluctuates naturally back and forth throughout a song and a concert.

“Somebody would start playing something and everyone would just jump in,” Patrick said. “We were all on the same page in the beginning.”

This summer the band members felt comfortable enough to take their concerts on the road. For several weeks they performed everywhere, from Des Moines, Iowa, to Albany, N.Y.  They even made a stop in Chicago, and they played on street corners after some concerts to make a few extra bucks.

 “We definitely never tried anything this ambitious,” Bockman said. “It was quite the undertaking.”

 Members of As the City Sleeps still can’t define their music today. But they can define themselves and their mission.

And that may be more important in the end.

“We’re pretty much stuck with each other for a while,” Bockman said. “All of our heads are pretty much in the exact same place.”

Reach Michael McHale at 473-7254 or mmchale@journalstar.com.