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system and station
Sounds like: think epic rock somewhere between Led Zeppelin, Drive Like Jehu, Yes, Shiner, Radiohead and Flaming Lips.
System and Station formed in Boise, ID in 1998. The band started as a three piece and moved across the country only five months after its inception. The first move was to Madison, WI where they could be centralized to tour the Midwest and East coast. Madison was great because they were so close to Chicago but they could actually afford to live and play music (mostly) fulltime.
Within the first year in Madison they had an offer with a local label to release an EP and they decided to take the chance. The label (mafia money records) had worked with Ritual Device, Hugh, and Transformer Lootbag and seemed to be a descent beginning. Three months after the release of the record “Prospects of Living Daily” the label folded leaving System and Station an album with no promotion. They decided to tour as much as they possibly could and get the word of mouth out about S+S. They fortunately had some help from friends in Built to Spill that year as they took System and Station on a few tour dates.
In 2000 with a gracious offer from Smart studios they recorded the full length LP “Pictures found in Paragraphs”. The album was recorded and mixed by Mark Haines (Son Volt, Archers of Loaf, Rainer Maria, Poster Children) in two days. It took almost a year before it was released on Crustacean Records and then was distributed by Southern Records. Regionally the album did well placing as high as #4 on Milwaukee radio and selling out in stores. They started hitting the road every other month for 3 to 6 weeks and then planned for there next move, Portland, OR.
In August of 2001 System and Station packed up and headed to Portland, OR to work the west side of the country and be closer to their families. In September Crustacean released a compilation album of songs recorded during the span of time in Madison and was titled “Compiling the #7”. The people at Crustacean had always been very supportive of System and Station but their ability to promote was small because of funding problems so the release fell under the radar. In spring of 2002 System and Station headed out on a 7 week tour with Chicago’s Land of the El Caminos and would prove to be the end of two System and Station members. Dave Wall and Mike Rundle (the original rhythm section) decided they wanted to go back to Boise, ID and Rfk headed back to Portland to see what was next.
It turns out it was a new beginning for System and Station with only Rfk Heise as an original member (he is the songwriter, voice for s+s). Josh Vasby and Bryan Fairfield from Madison, WI became the new rhythm section and Palmer Cloud from Boise, ID (a former band mate of Rfk’s) became the second guitarist and fourth member of System and Station. After only five months the band recorded the strongest material to date and headed out for a southern tour. Since the line up change in June 2002 the band has been turning heads with their relentless high energy and epic live shows. In late July of 2003 the EP “If you find me let me know” was released through Crustacean records as well as Latest Flame of Milwaukee followed by a Midwest/ East Coast tour. In April of 2004 Josh Vasby was replaced by Levi Cecil who formerly played in such bands as Clock and You Might Die. Future plans include releasing the next full length in summer of 2004 (titled “In the Twilight”- no label yet). As well as a west coast tour in August 2004 followed by a US national tour in late summer and a UK tour for late spring 2005.
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