Kinda funny how great bands just grow out of great bands, huh? Like, for instance, the Crucified. From that legendary old-school punk band came Chatterbox,The Blamed, and Stavesacre. Or poor old lu. From that killer band comes Meekinpop, Serene, SunSites, and part of Jeremy Enigk's backing band. Another good example is His Name Is Alive, the legendary underground experimental band tht has become long time favorite. One of HNIA's members, Trey Many, recently paired with vocalist Amon Krist, and created Velour100. But to hear Trey tell it, it wasn't really supposed to happen this way.
"I had been recording some ideas of mine on 4 track, some of which to be used for His Name Is Alive. Amon, who I met through a friend at college, was originally supposed to sing on these songs, but it ended up that a lot of what we were doing didn't fit in with the new HNIA album...after a while, we decided to start something on our own."
You hear all the stories about a rock band's long, meteoric rise to fame. The late night rehearsals. The sending of demo tapes to a million record companies. The playing to 5 people in a basement in the midde of nowhere. But here, that really ain't the case. "Amon and I recorded a few songs at Warren (Defever, producer)'s house, and started playing out locally, using different friends for live shows." Their journey led them straight to that mecca of alternative rock...Cornerstone fest. " We sent a tape into Cornestone and got chosen to play on the new band showcase. While at the festival, a few different labels approached us, and ater a while, it became clear that the people at Tooth and Nail were the only Christians who had any real ideas for promoting bands to the general market.
I know it sounds cliche to say this, but I never intended to become part of the Christian music scene - it was just the first thing that came along."
"Anyway, they (Tooth and Nail) released "Fall Sounds", and now after much deliberation and a few short tours, they are releasing our first cassette on CD, with a few changes. We re-recorded two of the songs with Jeremy and Matt, our new permanent members. We remixed one song and added a new instrumental track. Two songs on the CD are original versions, and two songs from the original cassette are left off since they appear elsewhere ("Fall Sounds" and "Artcore Vol.2"). "Songs From The Rainwater e.p." should be released this February, if all things go according to schedule.
"At first, I was reluctant to let Brandon (Ebel, T&N head honcho) release this stuff, because in a way, I feel that we have departed from our original sound."
"This summer, Amon and I decided to stop working together for various reasons. We basically have very different ideas for music and for our careers, and it just made more sense for us to move on. She has a wonderful voice, and I hope very much that she continues to write and record on her own, but I really believe that this is all for the best. For our new recordings, we will be employing the help of three different friends of ours (Karin Oliver of HNIA, Sydney Kentz of Morella's Forest, and Tess Wiley, ex-Sixpence and now in Phantasmic). Some of the basic tracks have already been started, but it may be a while before everything is done, since I have been and will be busy touring with HNIA. We wil be visiting, so anyone reading this shuld come see us if you get a chance."
"Velour will also hopefully be touring this Spring with one of our new guest vocalists. Look for the new full length this summer - we may try and release it at Cornerstone. And by the way, if anyone wants to buy our new record, you should consider trying to get it at your local, independent, regular old record store. Not only will it be 4 or 5 dollars cheaper than at a Christian bookstore, but it will also really help us out in trying to establish ourselves in the general market. Tooth and Nail is distributed by Caroline and Cargo, so any record store should be able to order it. I also wanted to let everyone know that we love to hear from our friends, so write to us at P.O. box 971534, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, or at velour100@aol.com. Bye-Bye!"
