A Stand At Vienna
A Stand At Vienna (formerly Five Star Failure) is a five-piece Portland, OR based rock band. Four of the five members formed in mid-June of 2003 and have progressed and developed with full force in the short time that they have been together, recording their first four song demo after barely a month of writing as a band. Their first shows came shortly after, in August of 2003, playing for two packed houses at popular local venues in Portland (The Paris Theatre and the Meow Meow) after a mere two and a half months together, receiving waves of positive feedback from locals in the music scene. In December of 2003 came the addition of a fifth member, moving around the line-up to include two guitarists, adding more complexity, depth, and solidarity to their sound.
ASAV now consists of five dedicated musicians, all of whom have had previous musical endeavors before forming the band. Ryan Humm sets the tone of the band’s sound on lead guitar, and his ten years of experience does not keep him from continuing to push his skills until he is truly satisfied. Mike Marre on bass guitar is a perfect compliment to Ryan’s guitar skills, balancing out and accentuating the strong undertones of the music while moving the rhythm along with it. Adam Bullock, who was formerly on drums, has moved to rhythm guitar as he himself has just passed the decade mark of guitar experience. Now free to experiment with different accentuations and corresponding harmonies, this addition has rounded out the fullness of every song and has solidly pieced together the depth that was missing from the music before. The new addition of Micah Olsen on drums has added a new confident complexity to the rhythms, implementing a full and dynamic sound. He continues to challenge himself to find complimentary and driving beats to each layer of the music while sustaining a moving pulse and always leaving the listener on edge. Sarah Jennings completes the band on lead vocals, overlaying complicated and yet memorable melodies, stretching her experienced vocal abilities from haunting near-whispers to screams at full force that can hold its own when compared to the likes of any male-fronted screaming you can throw at her.
ASAV has clearly not let a short amount of time together stand in their way. Not only is this band incredibly dedicated to making the most of their ability and their sound, they are full of passion for their music, and it shines when they are onstage. Their performances are high energy from beginning to end, and are guaranteed to pull the audience emotionally into their sound along with them for the entirety of the set. Don’t expect the band to stay in one place either – not only does their music keep you guessing with a unique style that is ever changing and never typical, but the slough of thrashing onstage antics will have you torn between a focal member of the band.
Though the varying musical influences of the band members include such underground heroes as Thursday, Coheed and Cambria, Thrice, Saves the Day, My Chemical Romance, Clarity Process, The Mars Volta, Fear Before, and Glassjaw, it is apparent that this band is ready to bear-all with their hearts on their sleeves, landing their sound somewhere between post-hardcore, hardcore, emo, classic rock, screamo, and just plain good melodic rock. But when asked to define their sound, the band can only insist that you tell them...