Craig's Brother
Craig's Brother |
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Craig's Brother is a pop punk band founded by Andy Snyder. Its original lineup included Ted Bond, Heath Konkel, Scott Hrapoff, Adam Nigh and Andy Snyder.
History
Craig's Brother released their first commercial album Homecoming on Tooth & Nail Records in 1998. By this time they had already released two demos: one self-titled cassette tape Demo and a CD/EP called Keepin' It Real. They never achieved much fame, but the fans they did attain were extremely dedicated. They relied quite a bit on the Christian music market in order to gain a foothold, which they did.
In 2000, a second release, Lost At Sea, was planned, when Tooth & Nail dropped the band. It has been said that Tooth & Nail dropped them because the band's lyrics began to express a falling out with the dogmatic beliefs of their Christian religion. A clear example of this is the song "Insult to Injury" which speaks of the church's "Hand me down beliefs". It took more than a year before Lost At Sea became available outside the United States. Soon thereafter, the album once again became unavailable.
Right around this time, the drummer, Heath Konkel, one of the few who had stuck with the band from the beginning, left to attend school. More members left, new ones were gained, among these a certain Steven, who also performs in the band HeyMike!, that split up around this time. Dan McLintock of Inspection 12 also contributed songwriting, singing, and guitar playing to the second album. Ryan Key, Yellowcard's vocalist, also joined the band for a short while. Yellowcard's violinist, Sean Mackin, also made a guest appearance on "Back and Forth" on the Lost at Sea album.
In the end, it was too turbulent to keep going. Craig's Brother disbanded in 2001, after fans had been kept on their toes for months.
The band's website at http://www.craigsbrother.net, remained however, and has changed layouts numerous times. The webmaster, Eli, has stuck around and kept the messageboard running, and there have even been a few updates. In the summer of 2003, http://www.tedbond.com was launched, also by Eli (As of 2005, the domain is no longer up). Ted gave the fans three new acoustic songs, one of which was called "Craig's Brother". It was a sad reflection on the time in the band, hanging out with, "just a bunch of drunks I can't stand". These songs proved Ted could still write songs that were of the same caliber as the earlier Craig's Brother material.
Rumours that that the band would reunite were proven true. At the end of 2003, it was announced that Craig's Brother was back. Heath and Scott returned from school, and they also recruited some other new band members. A new EP, E.P.idemic (with that capitalization) was released the next summer.
Craig's Brother is currently signed to Takeover Records, a label that is run by former Yellowcard guitarist Ben Harper. As of 2006, Craig's have yet to release any new material publicly, with the release of the anticipated third full-length being pushed back yet again.
Guitarist Issues
For undisclosed reasons, the band seems unable to hold on to their guitarists. This was an important factor in the 2001 breakup, and continues to haunt them to this date. And as they need two guitarists to play their own songs, touring proves difficult, especially as these two guitarists seldom stay for very long. Currently Ted Bond plays second guitar.
Former Members
- Brent Crenna-Kaping – Bass
- Dave Cree – Guitar (1995)
- Andy Snyder – Guitar, Backup Vocals (1995-1998)
- Adam Nigh – Guitar, Backup Vocals (1997-1998)
- Nick Handley – Guitar (1998)
- Steven Neufeld – Guitar, Backup Vocals (2001, 2003-2004),
- Dan McLintock (of Inspection 12 & My Folks) – Guitar, Backup Vocals (1999-2000)
- Ryan Key (of Yellowcard) – Guitar, Backup Vocals (1999-2000)
- Garret Baldwin – Guitar (2000-2001)
- Juice Cabrera – Drums (2000-2001)
- Tristan Pardee – Drums (2001)
- Jason Ragan – Guitar (2005-2006)
- Sam Prather – Guitar, Backup Vocals (2004)