In today's music world, bands constantly reach to yesterday for inspiration. Two genres making a staggering resurgence would be "pop-punk" and "emo." Pop-punk pioneers include the likes of Lifetime, New Found Glory and Saves the Day, while emo has Sunny Day Real Estate, Braid and Cap'n Jazz.
While the Midwest is giving birth too many bands which fall under these categories, few step over the boundary line.
Fortunately, Michigan City's Grown Ups is building a bridge between the two genres, providing ground for other fledgling bands to walk about on.
Formed in early 2009, Grown Ups fuses the sounds of their predecessors while breathing life into their antiqued albums. Instead of distortion-driven pop chords, throw in intertwining clean guitar melodies. Instead of straightforward drum beats, embellish with intricate rhythms and tricky time signatures. To finish it up, include a singer who can sing with a wide range and catchy lyrics.
The band's upcoming full-length release, "More Songs," shows the young band has more in their record players than pop-punk classics.
Grown Ups formed when three roommates, Doyle Martin, Adam Sheets and Jacob "Fuzzy" Bonham, started writing together in the basement of their house. The trio quickly recruited bass player Jason Copeland and polished up their first four songs. These songs were soon recorded and released as an EP, titled "Songs."
"We had connections through our old band that we just followed up on at that point, so early in the game we were just doing everything we knew to do," Martin said.
After the release, the band started touring relentlessly, journeying out to the East Coast during the summer months. While the first tour was less than profitable, it provided the band with a set of contacts and established them as a hard-working act. The tour also brought stressful times within the band, and the original trio parted with Copeland.
"There was no money for gas, and we even ran out of gas completely. We did meet a lot of cool kids though, I'm still in touch with a lot of them," Martin said.
The fall brought new breath to the band as they brought in bass player Andy Tokarski. Their new reputation as a persistent group caught the eyes and ears of Big Scary Monsters Recording Company, based in the United Kingdom. In September, Chase Igliori, manager of the newly established US branch of the label signed the band and took over managerial duties.
"They reminded me of all the bands I loved when I was younger, growing up in the Midwest. There was an emotional aspect to the lyrics and sing-a-longs that really grabbed me. So much talent buried beneath low quality recording," Igliori said.
In November, the band wrote and recorded a song with Motion City Soundtrack's Justin Pierre. The track, titled "Are You Kitten Me?" gained a lot of attention and pushed the band into the Midwest's music spotlight.
With a strong backing in the Midwest, the band once again embarked on an East Coast tour during the winter, this time with Chicago's Castevet. Shortly after returning home, the band entered Chicago's Atlas Studios with Producer Matt Allison. The product of the recording session would be "More Songs," due for release this May.
Big things are in store for Grown Ups in 2010, including a springtime East Coast tour with Lancaster, Philadelphia's band 1994 and a United Kingdom and European tour this May and June. With the determination demonstrated so early on in the game, it is easy to see they will be turning heads in the music industry for years to come.
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