Tony McCullough - vocals, woodwinds, keys, percussion
/ Phil Disher - drums, drum programming, percussion
/ Steve McMillan - bass
/ Mike Vagianos - guitar, vocals
Influences
More than you'll actually hear in our music and way too many to name, but I'll try to start.
Radiohead, Blonde Redhead, Bjork, Queens of the Stone Age, Keane, Coldplay, U2, the Police, Prince, Tom Waits, Susan Vega, MeShell N'Degeocello, Joe Henry, Cassandra Wilson, Parliament/Funkedellic, pink Floyd, Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Can, Love, TTD, Tortoise, Fishbone, John Zorn, Foo Fighters, Elbow, Wilco, Neptunes, KRS-ONE, BDP, Mars Volta.......
Sounds Like
Would somebody please tell us
(and no, "shit" doesn't count).
baleens first incarnation was formed by original members Mike Vagianos (guitar) and Phil Disher (drums) in Chapel Hill, NC during the late fall of 1998. baleens collection of brooding, experimental, and rhythmic tunes, soon earned them the respect of the southeastern college town they called home. In November 1999, Baleen released their first indie record entitled, Personality Plus. Not surprisingly, this album rapidly caught the attention of some Charlotte, NC musical pioneers.
Steve McMillan (bass), Derrick J. Hines (keys, samples, vocals), and Tony McCullough (woodwinds, vocals, percussion) immediately saw an opportunity to add baleens unique sound to their already impressive and well regarded repertoire. The result was a collection of existentialist pop songs that became baleens second album Soundtrack to a Normal Life, and solidified the new and current baleen line up. The record was promoted to college radio by Triage International, charting in the top five at stations around the country.
Continuing their constant musical evolution, baleen propelled back into the studio to record their third album entitled Follow Me Blind. This album took baleen all over the Eastern US - good times.
Since then, baleen has moved to Atlanta GA, lost a member in the process, and have kept going without looking back. Now, baleen is here with more focus and drive. New songs are being birthed monthly and they can't seem to get recorded and mixed fast enough. Though, here are some new tunes written and recorded over the past 3 months... enjoy.
someebody on my friends list wrote something really nasty about you in a blog. you need to see this, what happened... sorry about that, but here is the link to it...
someebody on my friends list wrote something really nasty about you in a blog. you need to see this, what happened... sorry about that, but here is the link to it...
Muertepop records celebrates its birthday with the first cdr release "To the naked Eye"; The musician Mark Hamn tries to aggregate the nine tracks, plus a bonus video track, around the same idea: the involution of post-modern humanity in the globalisation age, or more simply, a sour consideration about our days. Electroacoustic, glitch, field recordings and guitars remember that all of us have to change and avoid a little part of this ecological tragedy that is involving our earth. We have just to open our eyes!
I MISS you guys.
Of all the bands and DJs that I've thrown visuals for ... local, regional, national, international and even the stray intergalactic ... BALEEN is still the only sticker on my laptop. (Well, I would have slapped an Interstellar sticker on it if we had one)
Peace, Children
Karen 57/SB
