If you have/are making a career in music, whether it be playing in a band, promoting, or writing for a media outlet, there’s one general rule that applies to pretty much everyone; Don’t forget where you came from. Even the biggest bands on the planet started out in someone’s garage. In this spirit, we will be writing up a “Top 15 Bands to Check Out” sort of deal for the Florida local bands which we personally find promise in. Five segments over five weeks, three bands per segment. Each band will be given a mini three question interview, but we highly recommend researching them further for yourselves. You can find out a little about our first three bands after the jump.
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1/15:
Band – Red Lights Beacon
Hometown – Tampa, FL
Genre – Instrumental/Progressive Post-Hardcore
https://redlightsbeacon.bandcamp.com/album/red-lights-beacon-ep
Red Lights Beacon is;
Guitar – Damian Martinez
Drums – Robert Mchugh
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Q – For anyone who may not be aware just yet, can you give a brief introduction to Red Lights Beacon?
A – So we’re a two piece Instrumental post-hardcore band from Tampa. I (Damian) play guitar and Rob plays drums. We both write and arrange the music ourselves.
Q – You put out a two song EP simply entitled ‘Red Lights Beacon’, back on March 10th. Where was it recorded, and who produced it?
A – We went to Cody Hanlon to record our EP. It was recorded at his home studio in New Port Richey called Studio 33:1. It was an awesome experience. We recorded everything over the span of like two weeks. It was great because we got to use some really nice gear and the environment that Cody and Brittinni make is really nice. In between hanging out with their cats and getting to experiment with different things it just made the process a whole lot less stressful.
Q – Are there currently plans for a continuation to it later this year?
A – Well, we’re always writing new stuff. It might take us forever to finish writing something but we’re always writing. We kind of have plans to make it back and record some more stuff and release that as like an “RLB 1.5” kind of thing. But if anything we would record more songs. Enough so that we could release like an actual album if we want. Maybe record some older stuff or remix the songs off this EP, who knows. Also we’re planning on doing some sort of merch “soonish”. We’ll start small and just kind of work our way up. Maybe stickers or pins or something along those lines.
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2/15
Band – Gullwing
Hometown – Tampa, FL
Genre – Instrumental/Post-Rock
https://gullwing.bandcamp.com/album/gullwing
Gullwing is;
Guitar – Mirza Begovic
Drums – Chris Steffens
Bass – Nat Guy
Keyboards – Dug Fender
Viola – Taylor Raynor
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Q – For anyone who may not be aware just yet, can you give a brief introduction to Gullwing?
A – Gullwing is an instrumental band with a range of influences. Their music covers cinematic, ambient soundscapes to fuzzed-out, pounding rhythms to soaring melodies — often within the same song. Gullwing takes the listener on a musical journey.
Q – The band just recently released their debut album, self titled ‘Gullwing’ on April 14th. Can you tell us a little bit about it? – Where was the album recorded, and who did you have on to produce it?
A – The album has been in the works for a while.
We recorded the album in one week at the drummer’s house (Chris). In his living room. It was a fully DIY project. The bass amp was in the main bedroom. The keys amp was in the bathroom. The guitar amp was in the guest bedroom. And the viola was recorded directly into the preamp. The drums were in the kitchen. The guitarist (Mirza) engineered the whole record. He set the recording equipment up (including some borrowed mics) and mixed and mastered everything. Mixing and mastering took the longest because we are a quintet of 5 separate opinions.
Q – Aside from the music itself, the thing that has intrigued me the most has been the artwork. Can you tell us a little about the emblem that is present on both the full length album, as well as your shirt designs? – Who created the artwork for the album?
A – Nat, the bassist, does the artwork. For that Gullwing emblem he wanted something geometric and monolithic and just tweaked and twerked it until it felt right. The album’s themes of space and sea (including many song titles) are themes we’ve built up over time that have started to fit us. It probably started with a video Nat put together that repurposed an old sci-fi movie that we’ve started projecting at our shows. Check it out on our Facebook page if you care to.
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3/15
Band – Middle Child
Hometown – Lakeland, FL
Genre – Hardcore/Rock N’ Roll
https://middlechildfl.bandcamp.com/
Middle Child is;
Guitar – Alex Urbina
Drums – Cody Rains
Bass – Jesus Tossas (Chu)
Vocals – Daniel Benefield
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Q – For anyone who may not be aware just yet, can you give a brief introduction to Middle Child?
A – Middle Child is a Christian(spirit-filled) hardcore/rock’n’roll band from Lakeland Florida.
Q – The band just released a single entitled ‘Griefbone back on April 4th, can you tell us a little about it? – Where was it recorded, who was on to produce it, lyrical themes etc?
A – Griefbone is the first song with our new lineup. With our old drummer Daniel stepping up to do vocals and recruiting Cody Rains to play drums we knew style was going to change some . We wanted to go a bit darker, we think Griefbone really blends our new darker style with our older rock’n’roll type mentality. The lyrics are meant to emulate that suffering is just a part of life, whether it be mentally, spiritually or physically and that sometime the suffering doesn’t let up. Song was written and produced by us, recorded at River Bear Studios(record there, they’re the best). Music video was filmed by old vocalist Josh(video with him he’s the best).
Q – Are there currently any plans for a EP/full length later on in the year?
A – We are actually finishing up the rest of the songs we are going to be recording very soon. It’s going to be a 5 track EP. We don’t have an exact date of release but we’re very excited to show everyone what we have been working on.
