Tracklisting
1. Sugar Falls (radio edit)
2. The Ledge (code noir club mix)
3. The Ledge (radio edit)
Web Links
http://www.tappingthevein.com
Photos
Feedback
Submit an online feedback sheet
Green Galactic is a marketing and production media company
specializing in youth culture. In addition to general
marketing services such as publicity, promotions and public
relations, we are emerging as a pop culture solution provider
for anyone wanting to effectively reach and deliver to hip
markets.
home |
|
|
| |
Place: Philadelphia, PA, Time: a few years back - local
drummer Eric Fisher was frustrated! He had spent time crackin'
sticks in too many area bands that had started out promising,
only to implode before reaching fruition. Frustrated by the
limitations of his previous bands, he decided to take the
reins and start his own project but was unsure of what shape
this new project would take. While interning at a prominent
Philly recording studio, he had a chance encounter with
programmer/keyboardist Charlie Clouser, who was there to
record an album with his band for a major label (he has since
gone on to become a member of Nine Inch Nails).
Impressed with the possibilities he heard for heavy music with
the use of machines, Eric started writing music with a
sequencer and sampler. Soon after, he recruited guitarist
Steve Stegg and bassist Lou Louvenir to flesh out his dark,
moody, new songs. Paying homage to the newfound creative
freedom he felt in writing for this project, Eric dubbed the
band "Tapping the Vein," a reference taken from the work of
famed horror/gore scribe Clive Barker. After a short period of
using sub-par male vocalists who weren't bringin' home the
goods, the trio finally lucked out when a girl slight of frame
but large of voice arrived for an audition. When she was
through sonically kicking their ass across the rehearsal
space, the girl, a.k.a. Heather Thompson was asked to join and
proved to be the chemical catalyst needed to make the whole
concoction explosive.
This line-up recorded a self-released EP (Butterfly) over a
single weekend and started making the local rounds with shows.
Unlike their previous projects, it became obvious from the
first gig on that the audience was being blown away,
immediately drawing people/fanatics/stalkers from all walks of
the musical spectrum that eagerly anticipated each gig. Just
when things were starting to take off, Steve and Lou decided
to bow out due to family issues, but instead of packing it in,
the remaining two members, Heather and Eric, decided to keep
the momentum of the band going and searched out worthy
successors. They found added musical firepower in the form of
Joe Rolland, a versatile player and a veteran of the local
Goth scene that Tapping the Vein shared an audience with. The
other new jack being Mark Burkert, a classically trained
guitarist who loved to play loud music. With the second line
up in place, the band recorded a second self-financed EP
(Undone).
Good things were happening for the quartet, including
frequently being thought of to open for big national rock acts
coming through town; these acts included Depeche Mode, Alanis
Morrisette, The Sisters of Mercy, Switchblade Symphony, The
Damned, Gravity Kills, Type O Negative and VAST. This proved
to be instrumental in helping to spread the word about TTV, as
Internet chatrooms full of converted fans from these shows
drove scores of people to the band's web site and MP3.com
page. This is easily evidenced by MP3.com, who recorded from
November 2000 to January 2002, over 230,000 downloads of
Tapping the Vein's music. In fact, the band regularly receives
glowing letters of praise from around the world, from people
and places where they have never played, some who have even
driven up to 20 hours away and flown cross-country to catch
one of the band's gigs! I kid you not.
In addition to the two self-released EPs, the band was
featured on the compilation albums The Unquiet Grave
(Cleopatra Records), Diva X Machina (COP Intl.), Compe Noctem"
(Carpe Noctem magazine), Unheard (CDNOW.com) and contributed
their version of "Cornflake Girl" for Cleopatra Records' Tori
Amos tribute album, Songs of a Goddess.
Even with all these successes as a band on their own, Tapping
the Vein knew the next step was to find a label willing to
take a risk on the band's hard-to-nail-down sound. Though not
members of the Metal world per se, Eric sent a demo to Nuclear
Blast (possibly the world's largest heavy metal label) and was
surprised when he found a message on the band's answering
machine a few weeks later from the president of Nuclear Blast
himself! Signing on right away, the band entered the studio
with friend and producer Scott Stallone. The result is the
debut full-length album The Damage, the culmination of the
band's song-writing maturity as a unit and music fire-tested
during hundreds of gigs. Future plans include a national tour
for the band, including a slot on the New Jersey Metal Fest.
And what about Eric? He's not that frustrated anymore; just
don't touch the sampler at one of their gigs. This stuff is
expensive y'know?!!!
Release Date: April 16, 2002
# # #
For more information please contact Lynn Hasty at Green
Galactic, 323-466-4151 or
lynn@greengalactic.com.
|
|
Green Galactic Los Angeles
323.466.5141
|
|
|
