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San Antonio-based GIVEN came to life when guitarist/vocalist Matt Steele left his longtime band and branched out on his own. With the help of drummer Fred Michalczak, Steele recorded the band's debut "The Soul Reason" in his home studio and went about building the band around his new sound. After a busy start and two lineup changes, the band has solidified with Steele, Michalczak, guitarist Bobby Worden and bassist RobZilla. The band draws on a very wide range of influences, across all eras and genres, to create their sound. The result is music that is dynamic and diverse, and a style that is flat out no-nonsense. "We make no bones about it," Steele explains, "we want people to leave our shows with their jaws dropped and their ears ringing. We want to make people forget about their lives for a moment and have some fun. You cant think about how bad your day was while your senses are being assaulted. Thats how it works for me when I plug in and put the amps on 10. If we can bring that same sense of escape and excitement to the audience, were happy. "GIVEN is a rock band, pure and simple," he continues, "we dont care what people call us in terms of labels or genres, we write and play this stuff because we like it, and whatever it sounds like to others is irrelevant. This is about the band sharing what we do with an audience, not playing whatever someone tells us is 'flavor of the month.'"
Getting their feet firmly back under them and with some powerful and aggressive new material added to the live set, GIVEN stands poised to continue bringing their brand of rock to the music world.
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