The Narrative

This article is about the American indie rock band. For the band's self-titled album, see The Narrative (album).

The Narrative
Background information
Origin	New York City
Genres	Indie rock, indie pop
Years active	2008–Present
Members	Jesse Gabriel Suzie Zeldin
Past members	Charlie Seich Brandon Strothman Jay Scalchunes Ari Sadowitz
Website	www.thenarrativemusic.com

The Narrative is an indie rock band from Long Island, New York City, that was started in the summer of 2008. Since 2011, the band has consisted of Suzie Zeldin (vocals, keyboards, songwrite) and Jesse Gabriel (vocals, guitar, songwrite). Previously, the group has featured the drummer Charlie Seich. The Narrative's music has been associated mostly with Indie pop, pop rock and a bit to folk.

The name of the band are based on literary or scholarly terms and theories of members education in college.

To date, The Narrative have released one studio album, The Narrative (2010), three EPs, Just Say Yes (2008), Nothing Without You (2010), Kickstarter (2011) and a b-side album, B-Sides and Seasides (2012).

History

Formation (2006–08)

The band first got together after Suzie Zeldin answered a Craigslist ad put up by Jesse Gabriel in 2006. They soon found out that they were studying in the same school on Bellmore, Long Island, but had never met. So after the answer of Suzie, they discovered they shared the same passion for music. The two collaborated on music, first forming the short lived project January Window spent the next couple of years (2006–2007) in Suzie's cramped Upper West Side apartment crafting songs for their first EP. In an interview, Suzie Zeldin said the following about the change of band name to The Narrative:

"We came up with the name while we were recording the 'Just Say Yes' EP. At one point, we had put together a list of random band names, mostly from literary terms, poems, or song lyrics we liked and sent them around to our friends. For a short time, we settled on January Window which is from a Sylvia Plath poem. We ended up not liking it after a while and revisited the list and found The Narrative Paradigm which seemed a little wordy and pretentious so we shortened it to The Narrative. We decided it was a good name and have been happy with it."

— Suzie Zeldin

In 2007, Suzie have participated in many musics of bands, singing in Russian on "I'm Breathing... Are You Breathing Too?" by Envy on the Coast, Fairmont's, "Transcendence", and The Minus Scale. She also sang guest vocals on the Dashboard Confessional side of the New Found Glory split EP, as well as on at least one track on the newest edition of the yet to be released Dashboard Confessionals, Wire Tapes VOL 2.

She has also previously released solo material, called "Excuses EP" featuring four songs.

Jesse would not sing in the band initially, but Suzie asked and him decided to sing for her "Slide" by the Goo Goo Dolls. After this, Suzie said his voice was good and Jesse was included with her in the lead vocals and the back vocals. Drummer Charles Seich was added to the band after being introduced to Jesse and Suzie for the purposes of recording their album.

Just Say Yes (2008)

The Narrative recorded a 6 song EP with producer Bryan Russell titled "Just Say Yes" The album was self released in August 30, 2008 digitally on iTunes, Amazon.com, Rhapsody, and other distributors, as well as physically through mail order.

Since then, the band has made two feature promotions, having the EP on the front page on Myspace Canada, has had placements on MTV Shows from 2010 to 2012, MTV "Real World: Brooklyn" and "Real World: Cancun", Jersey Shore, MTV2, MTV's Canada Peak Season, VH-1, Nickelodeon's serie's Gigantic, TeenNick, National Geographic and Starz, a very positive unsigned showcase on Absolutepunk.net, Friends or Enemies Unsigned VIP Band and named in the AbsolutePunk Top 100.

In 2010, they appear on program of WOOD-TV 'West Vibe Eight West' opening a big space for the band in the musical scene. This was the first appearance of the band on TV. On 2011, they appeared too live on matinal program in FOX 5 News San Diego tellin the history of band and performing a song from the album "The Narrative".

Debut album: "The Narrative" (2010)

Zeldin and Gabriel was helped by Charles Seich, and Ari Sadowitz on bass recording their first full length album "The Narrative" with Bryan Russell in 2009, which was scheduled for a Summer 2010, self released in July 27. The album was featured in the front page of MySpace U.S and PureVolume.com declaring them one of the "Top Unsigned Bands of 2010", The American Creative Top 20 Albums as well featured in the national campaign launch for Propellerhead with the software Record. Aside from the release of the record, the band has been touring nationally with Eisley, Relient K, Mae, including CMJ and SXSW showcases during the year.

Still in 2010, The Narrative was the band featured in the Magazine Alternative Press article's in the issue No. 267 of September, "Unsigned Bands, AP Wants You!", or AP&R (an article who presents unsigned bands with a short biography and stream on the 'features' website magazine's page a song of the band).

After parting ways with their drummer Charlie in early 2011, The Narrative brought out touring drummer and Long Island native, Jay Scalchunes, to help them complete a 5-week stint of the Vans Warped Tour, playing on Kevin Says Stage in 2011. On October 2011, The Narrative made another showcase at the CMJ Marathon on Sullivan Hall.

The song "Fade" from The Narrative was featured in the soundtrack of the movie produced by Bob Fugger, "The Chateau Meroux" in January 2012.

B-Sides and Seasides 2012–present

In April 2, 2012 Zeldin & Gabriel released their b-side compilation album "B-Sides and Seasides" , containing acoustic versions of the album The Narrative and Just Say Yes, featuring a new song "Hallelujah", "Make It Right". This songs are produced for the tour EP "Kickstarter" supporting the band 2011 Spring Tour, where the sale earned about $8,500. Some acoustics songs are released too in the Tour EP "Nothing Without You". Besides, the EP have covers of Radiohead, "Karma Police" and Brand New, "Tautou".

They also started in April 2012 recording their second Full Length on an Old House Barn on North of New York City, the band claims, that will attracted the attention of a larger audience. The band is still looking for a label, and according to Jesse, signing with one would be very good because it would help to keep something more solid. The scheduled date for the release of this album is still the summer of 2012.

On July 18, Jesse post a note about the new album, they plan to released before 2012: "We are hoping to have the recording process completely done some time in the Fall. After that, we will be exploring our options for labels, public relations, management, and those sorts of things. We expect for the album to be released some time in the beginning of next year, but refuse to make any promises based on the 2012.".

On November 25, The Narrative was nominated for the contest "Z100 Hometown Hero" by Z100, with twenty-seven other artists. The band stayed in the second step the contest with five, and won the 2º place.

Twin Forks

In 2011, Suzie Zeldin and others musicians were called to help Chris Carrabba's acoustic album, "Covered in the Flood". Before this, they spent a year rehearsing in a garage and decided to create the folk/americana project Twin Forks(the name was quickly changed by the rights of another artist called Twin Falls) composed by Chris Carrabba (Vocal/Guitar), Suzie Zeldin (Mandolin/Vocal), Jonathan Clark (bass) and Ben Homola (drums). The first performance was in Florida at a Dashboard Confessional show, debuting the song Back To You. The band release their first EP on September 17, 2013, called "Twin Forks".

Style and influences

The Narrative are most often described as Indie Pop, Pop Rock, getting influences on the songs of Death Cab For Cutie, Brand New, The Academy Is..., Counting Crows, Destry as the indie/folk of Bon Iver. Suzie have influences of ska, punk and emo and Jesse, the sound of hip-hop and 60s rock.

Social support

In the end of 2010, The Narrative was featured in the Christmas compilation "Yuletides & Stage Dives" released by the Catalyst Publicity Group and Keep A Breast, with other 40 artists to fight against the breast cancer. They was supported too the act of Keep A Breast on Vans Warped Tour (celebrating 10 years of the association), performing acoustics songs in the event.

On 7 May 2013, Rock for Justice, a non-profit organization, released the project "Songs for Justice", a charity compilation that invokes the power of art and creativity to further positive social change, put out by Rock for Justice, a movement that sponsors collaboration between artists and social justice causes. The compilation have 12 cover-songs compose by indie, alternative bands. "They recruited a slew of insanely talented artists to cover other (insanely talented) artists". The Narrative record a cover for the song of Neil Young, "Heart of Gold".

The project began in 2012, supporting Invisible Children, Inc. has been chosen as one of the beneficiaries of the proceeds like the Give a Damn? documentary project, and The Hunger Project. The album is available on Bandcamp page.

On 25 February 2014, Fadeaway Records and Enjoy The Ride Records released an 35-song 3xLP compilation called "Friends". After ten years on hiatus, the label come back with the compilation with friends of Michael Dubin who runs the label alongside Neil Rubenstein. "I lost my father to Pancreatic cancer in 2002 and I wanted to put together an amazing compilation and donate all of the proceeds to cancer research charity in his memory. All of the friends and artists involved in this record are providing us with the names of lost friends and family, the entire list will be included in the liner notes and we are dedicating this record to all of those people,". The Narrative release in the compilation, the physical version of "Hallelujah", from digital EP B-Sides and Seasides. The 3xLP is available at the FadeawayRecods store.

Members

• Jesse Gabriel (Guitar and Vocals)

• Suzie Zeldin (Keys and Vocals)

Past Members

• Jay Scalchunes (Touring Drummer)
• Charles J. Seich (Drums)( 2008–2011 )
• Ari Sadowitz (Studio/live bass)

Discography

Main articles: The Narrative discography and List of songs recorded by The Narrative

Studio albums

• The Narrative (2010 - The Record Collective)

EPs and Digital Release

• Just Say Yes (EP) (2008 - Self released)
• Nothing Without You Tour EP (2010)
• Kickstarter Tour EP (2011)
• B-Sides and Seasides (2012 Self released)

Critical reception

Evan C. Jones from Alternative Press wrote, "[...]The Narrative is a bit lengthy (eight tracks are more than four minutes long), the craftsmanship the trio took into creating the album is evident. Hopefully this will be the last time the Narrative will have to self-release their music; labels, take notice."

Tris McCall of the Newark Star-Ledger wrote, "The Narrative joins a wave of young, independent bands that recently have reaffirmed their commitment to the album concept, lavishing attention on sequencing, packaging, cover art, typesetting and, in some cases, old-fashioned storytelling." and "The Narrative is the rare modern rock album that feels like a dialogue between equals – young songwriters struggling with romantic longing and interpersonal dissolution."

Sean Reid of Alter The Press! wrote, in a review of their self-titled album: "...with their self-titled full-length, its likely you could hear more from them, as its a record that is filled with depth, variation and there are moments where the band sound extraordinary good." and "With Straylight Run no more and Lydia soon to follow, I think fans will find an honest replacement in The Narrative, as this full-length is (at times) refreshing, captivating and filled with plenty of talent. The Narrative covers a lot of ground and the trio's hard work, creativeness and overall talent deserves all the credit it deserves."

In another article of Alter The Press!, Edward Strickson wrote, "When a record plays on personal weaknesses by playing dueling backing vocals like that it’s hard not to sing its praises, but they are praises that are truly deserved, wielding might that lesser elements would have found it hard to conceive."

Glenn Gamboa wrote in Newsday: "The band's Warped Tour shows will likely be their final tour for the year, as they get ready to work on the follow-up to their gorgeous debut The Narrative from last year."

In another Newsday article, Gamboa wrote: "In the year since their CMJ debut, The Narrative has released its eponymous debut, gone on national tours and heard its music used on several MTV shows. And now, The Narrative is ready to play the festival again, hoping the indie-popsters will continue their momentum."

In March 14, 2014, The Narrative was featured in Newsday's "Notable bands from Long Island"

Becky Bain writes in a "Popping Up" column on Idolator: "Their six-song album caught the attention of tons of music fans and MTV—so we can already imagine the good things to come when the band releases their debut 13-song LP this summer."

"Seanholio" wrote, in a review on the Cool Try site: "I will start this review out by saying that I usually wouldn’t review a rarities/b sides album BUT The Narrative are a special case. What other band would take the time out of their busy schedule to video chat with not just 1 but over 40 of their fans who helped fund their tour. During this video chat Vocalist/Keys player Suzie Zeldin mentioned that whilst they are working hard on their follow up to their debut self titled album they didn’t realize how this album is more than just a b sides album. It has some brand new songs, it has alternate versions and it has covers. It is safe to say that this is a decent and proper release for 2012. And when a band is as dedicated to their fans as their fans are to them I felt it only fair to promote them as much as I could."

Absolutepunk.net wrote, about the Unsigned Showcase: For our latest Unsigned Showcase, we are bringing you a stream of The Narrative's excellent EP, Just Say Yes, along with an exclusive new demo named "Fade." If you like Lydia, Death Cab for Cutie, or old Straylight Run, head to the band's AP.net profile to check out all the goodness.

They too wrote in the "AbsolutePunk.net Top 100"  : "The Narrative are the kind of raw, young talent that makes lesser bands envious. The charming duel vocals of Jesse Gabriel and Suzie Zeldin on Just Say Yes are some of the best you'll ever find on an introductory EP, and the music is alluring in its own right."

Review Rinse Repeat said "The Narrative have undoubtedly grown as a band since releasing Just Say Yes. Their self-titled album is an incredibly strong debut, laced with an abundance of wonderful songs, and a few slight, forgivable, missteps. From here, the world is in The Narrative's palm, they can only go on to bigger and better things."

The Patriot News, PEEN LIVE wrote: "As heard on MTV’s “Real World Brooklyn” and “Real World Cancun,” The Narrative is known for its intoxicating vocals and diverse lyrical arrangements. This New York-based group is making its mark on the music industry with its story-telling theme."

On Flavorpill, Andrew Phillips wrote: "Sure, they sound like wayward members of the Ben Gibbard brigade, but NYC indie-poppers the Narrative add an inspired pair of female pipes to the jangly emoisms of Photo Album-era Death Cab for Cutie. While their homage is strikingly similar — enough so that some may consider them a carbon copy — the Narrative's embrace of the former Barsuk band is so well wrought that, at times, they really do rival the original. The band hits town tonight alongside dancey, guitar-driven acts MakeupBreakup and Robes"

Lushbeat wrote: "This young band knows how to structure not only a song, but an entire album, which is one of the most important aspects of the listening experience"

External links

• Official Web Site
• Facebook
• MySpace