TOO MANY VOICES (LONG ISLAND, NY)

THE LOWDOWN:

 

Too Many Voices from Long Island, NY consists of Andy West on vocals, Eric Svirida- guitar, Ivan Gonzalez- guitar, Jeff Kaplan- bass, and Jerry Carbone on drums. Things got started for TMV in the summer of 2010 when Eric moved back to NY after being on the west coast for 13 years. The first day back he reconnected with Andy at a show and after showing him some songs he had been working on things took off from there. It took a number of months to solidify an initial lineup that continued to change until the current lineup as it stands now was finalized. You may remember Andy West from Kill Your Idols and Jeff Kaplan is Captain in Two Man Advantage. The rest of the combined past bands for members includes: The Last Crime, Skinned Alive, The Judas Iscariot, Science Diet, Farkus Affair, 25 Ta Life, Halfman and a few more. In August of 2011 they released a 4 song demo which was released on cassette and is still supposed to come out as a 7” on a split label release by Lifeline and Underground Communique Records. The band was also featured on the Black N Blue Radio Takeover Show on East Village Radio and recorded 2 more songs for that feature. The band has studio timed booked for October where they plan to record at least 12-14 songs for a possible full length record/CD although there is no record label involved as of yet. In the past Too Many Voices has shared the stage with bands like Supertouch, Rorschach, Two Man Advantage, Threadbare, Night Birds, and Iron Chic. In the fall they plan on playing a bunch of weekenders as they want to hit more of the east coast including Massachusetts, PA, DC/Virginia, upstate NY, as well as getting back to NJ and CT. 

 

Photo by: AmyXEdge

A FEW WORDS WITH ERIC:

 

IE: TMV formed a few years ago but have not really gotten rolling yet for various reasons. What kinds of things were holding the band back and do you feel like you are past that point now?

 

Eric: It was definitely a slow start with lineup changes, many health issues and our bass player would work out of state for months at a time on top of the regular family lives and busy schedules. It was definitely a frustrating time but it's nice to be where we are right now with a real solid lineup and everyone excited about getting the band out there. We have been very busy finishing new material, planning to record and trying to book as many gigs as we can. 

 

 

IE: What can we expect upcoming from TMV? You were telling me that in the bands “hiatus” you still all have been writing and have a lot of diversity within your songs.

 

Eric: As far as expectations I am going to make for sure that we get a full length out by spring. That is my main goal with this band right now. Expect to see us continuing to play out and introducing a ton of new material. It's definitely a diverse bunch of tunes and that is just going to be a natural thing for us. We have all grown up and continue to listen to a broad spectrum of bands and styles and the writing process is just very organic.  No one here is trying to do or sound like something else.

 

Click to watch "Holding On Like Never Before" 8/16/13 Bethpage, NY

IE: How would you describe TMV’s sound? When people hear that Andy from KYI is the singer for TMV it may come as a surprise to them considering the styles are not the same.

 

Eric: I rather have the listener formulate their own ideas and opinions as describing my own music is always difficult. It's all pretty much up-tempo hardcore that has melodic hooks without sounding too anthemic.  At our last show a guy came up after the set and said "you guys sound like an 80’s Dischord band from NY." Those that know me know that I was pretty psyched to hear that. I think that is a fair description. As far as KYI and TMV, they are definitely two completely different bands. I loved Andy's powerful, in your face style of vocals he delivered in KYI and TMV has some real fast paced, old school hardcore songs that showcase that side of him as well but I also really dig some of our other material where he balances that same power with melodicism and dynamic. 

 

IE: What kind of stuff are you all listening to these days that have inspired you to write new TMV tracks?

 

Eric: What really inspires me to write new material is every time I go to or play a show and always seeing very young, talented bands that are playing really interesting, different styles of music. It's a real breakdown of regional sounds and a far cry from some of the homogenized hardcore that went on for a while. I can't really pinpoint specific bands or records that get me writing material because I think the writing process or inspiration, in their most natural state, are influenced by everything you've ever listened to or heard your entire life. Even the stuff you don't like guides your writing to sounds you would like to avoid. A great example is one of our more popular songs, “Holding On Like Never Before”. I have a lot of people come up to me and tell me it has a real Dag Nasty vibe to it, which I totally hear and can relate as Dag has been one of my favorite hardcore bands since the beginning and I absolutely love Brian Baker's style of guitar but the honest truth is the two songs that inspired me to write that song were “Limelight" by Rush for the verse and "In the Stone" by Earth Wind & Fire for the chorus.  Haha!  Soul, prog rock and hardcore - they're all the same.

 

http://toomanyvoices.bandcamp.com

 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Too-Many-Voices/241586772526892