From The Inferno...UIC/Chicago Flame's Guide to Arts & Entertainment

The Inferno - Music
Issue: 02/03/04

Eclectic styles of music 'define 'eli'
By Randy Kim

Guitars blaring, drums inspiring head-banging and bloody screams which beg for no mercy-this hell-raising, thunderous adrenaline is unparallel like no other.  A band inspired to play with such magnitude, can undoubtedly cast an "everlasting impression" to those who have witnessed their youthful and energetic performances.

Short for Everlasting Impression, 'eli', is a relatively new band.  Its blend of heavy metal, punk and other eclectic styles of rock serve as the primary musical purpose that 'eli' delivers to its audiences.

The band composed of four men in their teens, Harrison Wenger (lead vocals), Kurt Schuepfer (lead guitar/backup vocals), Ryan Beck (bass guitar) and Chris Mills (drums) is not your average soccer mom, TRL friendly punk band; but a group that inspires honesty, self-awareness, real-life experiences, and harmony in their music.

Inspired by the likes of bands such as Unearth, String Cheese Incident, Poison the Well and other various rock groups, its form of music is a welcome change from the redundancy of current teenybopper garbage.

The band was formed nearly a year and half ago when they realized that their musical chemistry could be the start of something new and exciting.

"We knew we had something good going and we all knew if we stuck it out, we could make great things happen. It's proven true so far. We definitely consider it more than just a hobby," said lead guitarist Kurt Schuepfer.

Currently, their recent success was being a part of a sold out show at the Wheaton Grand Theater and they played second in the Spitalfield/Silverstein/Diffuser tour.

"We were stoked about that because those bands (came) from Victory Records (Atreyu, Darkest Hour) and Hollywood Records (Hillary Duff, Queen)" replied Schuepfer.

Successfully playing in front of 900 people, he and his group were exposed to a new audience and most importantly, the recognition from other bands and record labels. The experiences at performing at some of the recent venues have been a roller coaster according to Kurt.

 The euphoric adrenaline has sometimes left the band members bloodied and bruised after some of its performances.  Kurt explains that "a combination of headbanging and adrenaline can amount to a loss of vision. Sometimes I'll nail Harrison with my guitar unintentionally and we hit each other sometimes for kicks."

Their interaction with the audience is simple. No special effects or anything flashy but simply being normal kids that enjoy doing what they love most and getting people into the music.

The band recently put out two demo tracks "Stone Me Down With Passion" and "Cut the Lights."  Both those songs describe the isolation, anguish and betrayal stemming from the group's personal experience.

In "Stone Me Down", lyrics like "Stranded in a barren wasteland, with no place left to go/ You've wasted your apologies, the curtain leaves a clear/ What will you do now? / What air is left for you to breathe/ What will you do now? / What air is left for you to breathe/ Lying on the bed...Failure to your chest/ Your words be breathless," is directed at an unknown person whose painful torment is too much that it is left unforgiven. The lyrics, Schuepfer explains "aren't so direct that the person can see our image of the song but they're universal enough so that kids can start getting their own images of the songs."

The promising success of 'eli' has allowed the group to currently work with other booking agents to perform at bigger venues.  They are looking to add a few new tracks that will soon be released in a few months and hopefully release a new album tentatively by the summer of 2005.

Unlike other rock bands who are usually stereotyped as promoting sex, drugs, and violence, 'eli' is not one of them. Kurt believes that 'eli', as a whole represents unity, friendship and prosperity.

We're out to improve society, and the anger we may convey is just an expressive way of saying "there needs to be a change in this world.

The members of 'eli' will continue to strive to get to that next level. Its explosive chemistry and creative network will leave an everlasting impression on those who will attempt to witness and delve into the world of 'eli'.

For more information on 'eli', visit www.everlastingimpression.net.
 

http://inferno.collegepublisher.com/main.cfm/include/detail/storyid/594698.html

www.RockChicagoRecords.com

To begin this with anything but straight-forwardness would just be extra bandages on a well cared for wound. As much as this is a shock for all of you, believe us, we feel the same. 5o4PLAN has always been something incredibly sincere and important to the way we lived the last four years of our lives. We are sure many of you can confine in the fact that 5o4PLAN has curved us to be who we are today.

Many of the feelings of questioning 5o4PLAN's future began with Adam leaving the band back in May of 2003. Adam parting from the band to pursue school and a life outside the band, hit the remaining of us hard.
When Jon joined, we knew from the beginning he would not be the solution to Adam's departure, yet we hoped just the opposite since he fit perfectly in our jigsaw puzzle of a band. This only led to Nick questioning his future in music. Touring was never something Nick, Adam, Jon or Mike truly enjoyed or wanted, which opened new thinking to where 5o4PLAN was headed.
We have always been a band of performance other than recording. It seemed like no matter what we did or tried, 5o4PLAN struggled in some way or another, though it was the hard times that brought 5o4PLAN closer together.
We swear on these words; "we only lasted as long as we did because of you".
If we were to continue, it would be for the wrong reasons. To pursue on a false front would only hurt much harder at a future breaking point in the band.
We have always had a convincing and passionate live performance and for us to mislead you in any sort of false way would only be something we would regret doing. Regret is the worst feeling in life.

It feels more right to end 5o4PLAN on a high note than just to fade these feelings away. The decision to end this part of our lives was a hundred percent mutual. It feels as if it is our time. 5o4PLAN is looking at this as a bittersweet decision rather than a negative one. The four of us are still very close. We will never forget how much we accomplished, being the inexperienced, young men we are. We thank all of you for this.
As for the future of us individually, Nick is pursuing his creative interest in design (infectkids.com) and experimenting in a musical solo-project; Jon will be starting classes in film soon; Mike will continue his future endeavors in music; Adam will be finishing his Associates Degree this fall; Tom will continue his passion for art and music with new a project as well as school. We promise you, you will hear from some of us soon, if not all.

We are having a last show. We will post info as soon as we get it.


To have some sort of creation, there needs to be destruction, but no matter what we write, it would never cure how deeply sorry we are.


Thank you
Nick, Tom, Mike, Jon and Adam
5o4plan