Sherwood (band)

Sherwood

Sherwood is an indie rock band from San Luis Obispo, California, specializing in upbeat pop-rock. After the huge success of their debut LP Sing, But Keep Going, they signed to MySpace Records in early 2006.

History

The band began in late 2002 while several of its founding members were attending Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California. The band first formed with Nate Henry on vocals and bass, Dan Koch on drums, and Chris Armstrong on guitar. In April 2003, the lineup was changed with the addition of drummer Joe Greenetz. Koch became the band's second guitarist and principal songwriter. October of the same year saw the addition of keyboardist Chris Keene. Mike Leibovich joined to play keyboards months later after Keene left Sherwood to play for Number One Gun. After years of touring with a "Do-it-yourself" attitude, the band chose to sign with Militia Group side-label Sidecho Records, who would release their debut LP. Entitled Sing, But Keep Going and produced at Sonikwire Studios in Irvine, CA by Michael Rosas (singer/guitarist for the band Satisfaction), it sold over 20,000 copies and helped stir up even more attention for the star-shooting group. In 2005, the sad news was announced that founding guitarist Chris Armstrong was leaving the band. His role was filled on tour first by (former Terminal, now Oh, Sleeper bassist) Lucas Starr and later by their friend Gabe Dutton from Michigan in the summer of '06 and finally by Dave Provenzano (formerly of the band Fighting Jacks) in February '07.

As Sing, But Keep Going continued to explode, the band began receiving interest from almost every record label of note as they went on to play the Vans Warped Tour and sold-out shows across the country. Pushing the envelope even further was AbsolutePunk.net, who released a free downloadable EP in early 2006 that has since been downloaded some 30,000 times. After holding out for the best possible deal, the band surprised its fans and announced that they had signed to the newly formed MySpace Records. Following another summer stint on the Warped Tour, Sherwood spent six weeks in a beach house near Ensenada, Mexico writing for their next LP. The songs written during this time, along with the material they'd released on the Summer EP, were compiled to form a new full-length album, later entitled A Different Light, which was recorded in December 2006 at Motor Studios in San Francisco with producer Lou Giordano and features his daughter Joanna as a violinist in "I'm Asking Her to Stay".

A Different Light was released in March 2007, in the middle of the band's nationwide tour supporting Relient K and Mae. Sherwood spent the rest of the year supporting several other bands they had met on the Warped Tour including Motion City Soundtrack and The Academy Is..., and ended 2007's unrelenting schedule with a tour in England alongside Hellogoodbye and Say Anything.

Sherwood spent 2008 continuing their support of A Different Light with two more European tours, a trip to Japan, and several headlining U.S. tours. In August the band moved to Oakland, CA to begin writing material for their third full-length album, which will be produced by Brad Wood in Los Angeles.

Members

Current members

• Nate Henry – Lead vocals, Bass
• Joe Greenetz – Drums
• Dan Koch – Lead Guitar, Background vocals
• Dave Provenzano – Rhythm Guitar
• Mike Leibovich – Keys, percussion

Former members

• Chris Armstrong – Guitar
• Chris Keene – Keyboards
• Gabe Dutton – Guitar

Crew Members

• Shane Haase – FOH Sound Engineer and Merch
• Will Kent – Lighting Designer and Visual Director
• Sean Porterhouse – Guitar Tech, Tour Manger

Former Crew Members

• Ciara Carlson – Merch Mistress

Musical style

The band focuses on creating rock and roll music that can be danced to -- upbeat, with nonaggressive passion and a strong nod to classic rock stylings. While the band's original sound has been admitted to be "The Get Up Kids meets Mineral meets Further Seems Forever," the band's detailed list of influences for their current sound is a blend of old-fashioned rock and progressive alternative, with strong ties to standards set by the Beach Boys.

Other projects

• I'll Beat You Up

In the summer of 2005, guitarist Dan Koch and then-guitarist Chris Armstrong released a free online EP under the pseudonym "I'll Beat You Up" through a Myspace page. This farcical project consisted of "screamo" covers of children's melodies, such as the Itsy-Bitsy Spider and selections from Schoolhouse Rock. While it appears to have been a one-time deal, the EP remains available for download on the Myspace page.

• We Shot The Moon

A band from San Diego, California featuring Jonathan Jones the singer of Waking Ashland, in addition to Dan Koch and Joe Greenetz, both from Sherwood.

• More Important Than Music

In the spring of 2006, a blog was set up called "More Important Than Music" at Blogspot.com, and was later moved to a Wordpress account. Founded by Dan Koch, the blog follows the band's longstanding tradition of showing support for worldwide charitable organizations (the band has been a steadfast supporter of TheHungerSite.com and has helped to publicize it on their site and in their liner notes.) MITM consists of interviews with recording artists and opinion articles by members of the musical community, all with an emphasis on important charitable causes and national crises such as the situations in Sudan, Darfur, and general world poverty. The blog remains active and can be found at http://mitm.wordpress.com.

• The Sherwood Show

On November 7, 2007 Sherwood released their first pilot episode of their new online show starring Nate Henry, Dan Koch, Joe Greenetz, Mike Leibovich, and Dave Provenzano. The pilot episode can be found on their MySpace blog. They announced that they would be airing a new episode every Wednesday. According to the pilot episode lead singer and bassist Nate Henry started the series.

Discography

Albums

• 2005: Sing, But Keep Going
• 2007: A Different Light U.S. Heatseekers #11, U.S. Top Independent Albums #30

EPs

• 2004: Sherwood EP
• 2006: Summer EP

External links

Sites

• Official Website
• Template:MySpace
• Official Purevolume site
• AbsolutePunk Profile
• Upcoming Tour Dates
• Zannel Sherwood Interview
• Live Video of "Song In My Head" - by Punkvideosrock

Interviews

• 'More Important Than Music' interview with Dan Koch
• Euphonia Online interview
• Zannel Online interview