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Daily Egyptian - Arts & Entertainment - Carbondale, Illinois
Taking aggression to the max
Jared DuBach
Pulse reporterSometimes success is based upon careful planning and biding one's time. Certainly this is the angle area rock group Aujalyn is using in hopes of hitting the big leagues and not getting stuck in the mire of playing the same gigs at the same venues every month.
Aujalyn, which will perform at 10 p.m. Thursday with Calico System and Adair at Copper Dragon, formed toward the end of 2002 after guitarist Kyle Needham convinced drummer Pete Coniglio that forming a band was the way to go. That was all well and good, but they were still three people short.
Needham had been teaching Wes Poling how to play guitar before Poling was asked to join Aujalyn as its second guitarist. Then the group tried out singer after singer until Robby Harris entered their lives. They then jammed and wrote as a four-piece before bassist Rich Kriete entered the picture.
"We were searching for a singer forever and ever before we got Robby," Coniglio said. "But when we first heard him sing, we knew he was the one."
Most of Aujalyn's lyrics are on the inspirational and motivational side. Harris said his lyrics are more direct and "in your face." The songs "This Is Not a Drill" and "What's Worth More" have to do with Harris' personal experiences, but he and Coniglio contest that the songs of Aujalyn aren't about pity.
The music itself mostly draws from heavy metal with some of the members' influences include Needham's personal favorite, Ozzy Osbourne guitarist Randy Rhoads and a slew of other '80s metal gods. Aujalyn has taken these influences and infused them with touches of Thrice, Lost Prophets, a little Glassjaw and The Used. The result is something fresh and lively while still staying close to the music that's in their roots.
Although Harris' singing involves a lot of emotional inflection in the lyrics, the group doesn't consider itself emo. Their songs aren't so much about whining about personal problems so much as they are about the dysfunctions in others and society's faults. This emotional vibrance, on top of a heavy metal-based groove machine is what keeps more and more people attending Aujalyn's shows. But when Aujalyn's cornered into applying a label to their sound, "aggressive hard rock" is what the members come up with.
This "aggressiveness" has gotten the band kicked out of all their previous practice spaces, practically forcing them into a position where the members had to actually build a small structure on Coniglio's parents' property to practice in. The construction took them three months and what resulted is equipped with soundproof walls, a drum riser, a wrap-around couch and a place to store their extensive equipment.
Aside from the promotional staple of handing out flyers, the group has also put money into burning CD samplers and handing them out at area high schools. According to Harris, he was almost arrested at his old high school because he hadn't gotten prior permission from the school's principal.
In early January, Aujalyn will go down to New Orleans to play in a showcase at the Hard Rock Café and at another showcase later that month at the Hard Rock Café in St. Louis.
Coniglio said he hopes the group will also be able to record another three-song demo early next year to compound on the three-song demo the band already has out. Touring is something the group only dreams of for now while they wait to find the right band to hook up with to help alleviate the extensive cost of touring without a label.
Putting up the initial capital is one of the prices Aujalyn has paid to gain a large, diverse following of both high school age and older listeners. After a bevy of all-ages shows, a gig at Pop's Nightclub in Sauget, Ill., an opening spot for Lucky Boys Confusion and even the show Nov. 11 at Copper Dragon, Aujalyn has a lot going for it.
Aujalyn will be performing at 10 p.m. Thursday with Calico System and Adair. Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $5 with advance tickets available from the bands or at the door.
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Last update: Thursday, November 11, 2004 at 5:25:37 AM
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