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Sound The Alarm
HQ: Allentown, PANOW PLAYING: Stay Inside (Geffen) WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: The über-producer responsible for most of your favorite records handpicked them right out of high school. Beat that! YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE? The All-American Rejects / Boys Like Girls / Cartel To anyone who checks TMZ.com on a daily basis, the backstory of Allentown, Pennsylvania, natives Sound The Alarm is kind of a snooze. And, really, it was the lack of excitement in their rural town that caused the quintet-vocalist Cody Jancovic, bassist Colin Ellis, guitarist Brian Chiusano, drummer Rick Stephans and guitarist Joe Brule-to form in the first place. "We all liked music and there was nothing to do in our really small town," insists Jancovic, who was involved with the band's first incarnation at age 12. "When we started out, we didn't have much [of] a background in music," admits Jancovic. But the quintet soon culled their backwoods boredom into hook-heavy, pop-punk songs, and it was that undeniable catchiness that attracted a solid following in the local fledgling music scene and, more importantly, the ear of producer Howard Benson's daughter, who passed on the group's music to her father. With an endorsement from his daughter, Benson (the man behind My Chemical Romance's Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge and the All-American Rejects' Move Along) immediately wanted to work with the band, who happened to be in the process of signing to Geffen-in between gym and English classes. "Before we started pre-production, we were really nervous to work with someone that high up and on that level," Jancovic says of Benson, who brought the band to Los Angeles to write and record their debut Stay Inside. "He's really good at what he does. He wasn't really big into making changes himself, he would point out something in a song he didn't like and have us go home with homework to fix it. Once we were done with the record, we had such a better grasp on how to use our instruments and the whole music industry in general." The City of Angels is often a final destination for aspiring musicians, but the hustle and flow was something that really spun the members of Sound The Alarm into culture shock. "There was a period of two months where I couldn't think," says primary lyricist Ellis of the writing process, noting that he hopes to write the next one in the security of his hometown. "I got real homesick, and I was having trouble writing the record and getting real discouraged. We [spent] a lot of time trying to force the songs to come. I think the biggest thing I learned was that makes them sound forced and sound generic, and the ones with real feeling are the ones that come naturally." Listening to the ease of songs like the long-distance lament "Closer" and the album's title track, Sound The Alarm sure make it all sound effortless, something that's helping the band become a hit with fans both young and old. "Every person my mom meets, she tells about my band and our history," Jancovic says, laughing. "I actually got in her car a couple days ago and she had [Sound The Alarm] blaring through the stereo. I can only picture my mom cruising down the street, singing one of our songs." We're betting it's only a matter of time before the rest of the scene's singing, too. -Emily Zemler |
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