ERIK - Robben Ford; Larry Coryell; Steve Vai; Robin Trower; Takashi Matsumoto; Jing Chi; Jimi Hendrix; Johnny A.; Robert Fripp and Chet Atkins
MIKE - Jimi Hendrix; James Brown; Beatles; Grand Funk Railroad; Black Sabbath; Miles Davis; Sandy Nelson; The Ventures; Opeth; Porcupine Tree; Hank Mobley; Fantomas; Keiko Matsui; Herbie Hancock; Idris Muhammad and Deep Purple.
ROSS - Jimi Hendrix; Pink Floyd; Led Zeppelin; King Crimson; Tool; Les Claypool; Jaco Pastorius; Fela Kuti; Ravi Shankar and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Welcome to the myspace page for Silence and Mayhem. The band is scheduled to be in the recording studio in early November to begin work on their debut CD. Songs will be added to this webpage as soon as they are readily available.
Formed in the fall of 2007, the chemistry within the band was immediately unquestionable from the start. In a short amount of time, the merging of their musical minds came together and extended fully in a mad scientific lab kind of way. The best way to describe the music would be to say “an electrifying infectious concoction of sound”. Peaceful yet uncannily hostile, soothing yet riotous and serene yet thunderous, just as the band’s name suggests. There is nothing pretentious about the amount of defiant diversity that naturally outpours from the members of Silence and Mayhem. Stemming from multiple backgrounds varying from rock, jazz, blues, metal, funk, soul, pop, alternative, classical, world music and a mixture of psychedelic experimental movements, the band was formed with the intent of creating a fiery span of ambiance that breaks outside the box and allowing the creativity within the band to fully prosper into various genres of music. With the “no rules” approach, Silence and Mayhem undertakes a sheer obsession to create quality distinctive music and exhibiting an enormity of sincere passionate aptitude. Each member will agree that it’s all about the music.
ERIK GARD was born in Buffalo, New York and comes from a footpath of a vast musical family. He began playing piano at the age of 4, moved on to guitar at the age of 7 and pursued playing trumpet at the age of 8. As a child, he developed a serious probationary interest in his father’s record collection and acquired a deep sense of musical belief and erudition. Growing up, he was also very influenced by his cousin’s band which would strongly attribute to his multi-layered talents.
He recorded his first album in 1994 with a band called Jack in the Box. After graduating College with a BS in Electrical Engineering he moved to Wilmington NC. Hung out with and played in numerous Blues bands, including Michelle & The Midnight Blues Band and Blue Füzhn and was a regular at the BSLCF blues jam. He lived in England the summer of 2001 moved back to the states 3 weeks before the World Trade Center tragedy, 9-11. He later moved to Austin TX and played with the Eminators, and DAX.
Erik is a rare breed of guitarist in the aspect that he plays with a high sense of awareness regarding his musical surroundings. His tonality and inborn melodic nucleus have become a central part to the sound of Silence and Mayhem.
Erik plays Gordon Smith Guitars, Class "E", Fender and Laney Amplifiers.
All of his amplifiers pedals and guitars have been heavily modified by “Class "E" Amplifiers Ltd Co.”
MIKE MOLINA was born in San Antonio, Texas. He started playing drums at the age of 5 and feels very fortunate to have been raised in a family driven by a variety of music. Mike quickly developed a solid passion for music which immensely widened his harmonious cultivation. He has a very rhythmical approach to his style of drumming and has a sincere comprehension for melodious tincture, which adds to the true life adroitness of Silence and Mayhem.
Mike has played & recorded with a number of rock, latin, metal, funk, alternative and blues bands such as The Rhythm Kings, Driver, The Vault, Kindred Spirit, DAM, Crucifer, Texas Heat, Bobby G & Texas Roadkill, Scraps of Life, Sticks & Stones, Streetwise, Earth & Pass, Clifford Scott, Augie Meyers and a few other Texas musical icons. He opened stage for Blue Oyster Cult, Arc Angels, Eric Johnson, Monte Montgomery, The Godz, Bessie Mae Smith, Santers, Augie Meyers, Bo Diddley and Flaco Jimenez.
Mike plays a 6 piece all Maple wood drum set by Gretsch, with Evans Genera2 skins. 3 snares, a 14” x 5” Ludwig “Black Beauty” with a Remo Ambassador head, a 14”x8” Tama “Starclassic”, and a 12” Toye snare with a Toye head. All cymbals by Paiste & Zildjian.
ROSS STRATTON was born in San Antonio, Texas. Inspired at the age of 11 by virtually every piece of music that he came into contact with, he has an inimitable sense of musical competence. His passion for music is deep-rooted and genuine which creates an intrinsic sagacity, a key quality to his fundamental abilities and to the sound of Silence and Mayhem. He is ingenuously tuneful, which can be accredited to the fact that, aside from bass, he plays a number of instruments including guitar, mandolin, and harmonica. He loves all types of music and hopes to bring that feeling to the listener by helping to create diverse and distinct musical experiences.
Prior to assembling with Silence and Mayhem, he spent the last few years playing and recording Reggae and Mo-Town music with TwentyOneGrams and has spent time playing Metal and Jazz with UniverseSoul/DR. M. Trio and composing music of his own.
Ross plays 5-string BB-N5 Yamaha on a Hartke Amplifier.
Sound bytes and photos will soon be added to this site, and an official Silence and Mayhem webpage is currently in the works. We will keep you posted on all those details.
From Erik, Mike & Ross, thanks for visiting and thanks for your support!!!!
Part II of the February Love & Black History Month edition has been published!
In the Features Section: **Interview with Sex Therapist Shannon Peck **Five-page spread that delves into the culture, foods, and beautification practices of India as depicted in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni's book Sister of My Heart.
In the Subjective Section: **Humor piece on HBO's The Wire with drawings by Malcom Edwards
BHM ssection: **Essay on Black History Month
The Race: Read the rally speeches from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama from San Antonio, Texas and see the pics! Send us your politcal thoughts and we will post them!
Next month is our Stories and Women's History Month edition. So start sending in your submissions!
Peruse the Archives section: Premier, Travel, Erotica, Muerte, Music, Looking Back & Looking Ahead, and Love & Black History Month.
Please join our readers in celebrating this very special issue of InvasiveThoughts.com
This issue features interviews with Sananda Maitreya (formerly Terence Trent D'arby), Duane Denison with Tomahawk, Robb Chavez with Robb's Metal Works, Mike Patton, Portland's Shoeshine Blue, and Austin's Opposite Day (and visit the Archives section to see an interview with Fishbone from the 1st issue).
The Music Issue also includes reflections on music in poetry, a jazz photo essay, a live video clip from Missouri's The Hanukkah Jones Band , an essay on Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, and a snapshot of a night spent with Anthrax's Frank Bello. We also have a gallery of live-concert photos featuring Ani DiFranco, Peeping Tom, U.S.S.A., Fishbone, Weedeater , and others.
We are also very excited to announce the first Invasive Thoughts Party at Ruta Maya Riverwalk Coffee House (don't worry, they also serve beer and wine) on Wednesday, December 5 th, from 7-10pm. This event will feature Portland's Shoeshine Blue and Run On Sentence, and Austin's Opposite Day. See the attached flier for more information.
As always, we invite you to send us your own stories, feedback, comments, pictures, art, or any submissions of any kind. We hope you enjoy the Music Issue!
Man i cant wait to hear you guys. Mike, break me off a preview man... gimme a shout if you have an open practice i would love to listen in... until then i congratulate you all and wish you nothing but the best.
Congrats to you all!!! I am thrilled to be on your friends list..Very excited for you, cant wait to be blown away by your tunes!!! Here's a BOTTLE of Champagne to start this Luck Ship Sailing!!!
