Always The Villain

Artist Information

Biography

Always The Villain is a vocal-centric band with a sound that is sonically diverse. The solid guitars and hooky mainstream melodies become lodged in your psyche.

Founded in 2007, Always the Villain is comprised of five seasoned musicians from the Chicago music scene. ATV creates songs that are concerned with triumphs and challenges of everyday life, love and betrayal, good times and adversity, addiction and redemption. “If we have one mission statement it’s to let people know that they are not alone,” vocalist Billy Keller. The band was formed when Shanti Flowers and Adam Abajian ended their band Lucius Warbaby in 2005, they were quick to keep the most current LW bass player Karl Kestermann in the creative process while they built a new band. Karl had recently joined the band after several years playing with several bands including Boo-Boo Bunny in Nashville, TN. “We got to do what we did in LW, but we wanted to move forward into a more mature musical style and this was our opportunity to do that,” guitarist Shanti Flowers. Shanti, Karl and Adam were tipped off that drummer Brian Power was looking to play after his previous band, The Bish, had disbanded. When the four of them combined they started to look for a singer and Brian suggested Billy Keller (of Area Man and Perfect Red) who had been without a band for nearly a year at the time. “Billy has been one of my closest friends for years, he stood up at my wedding and I at his, this was the only person that could front this band,” guitarist Adam Abajian. In the spring of 2008, Always the Villain played its first show. “The shows were an opportunity to see if we could gel, we had such great chemistry that we decided to write an album,” drummer Brian Power. In the Summer of 2010, Always The Villain released its first album Always the Villain.

Instrumentation

Billy Keller - Vocals,Keys
Karl Kestermann - Bass, Back-up Vocals
Adam Abajian - Guitar, Harmonica
Shanti Flowers - Guitar
Brian Power - Drums

Discography

2010 "Always the Villain"

Official Website

http://www.alwaysthevillain.com/

Links

• Facebook
• MySpace

Audio

• What I'm Missing
  Listen  
• Always the Same
  Listen  
• What it Is
  Listen  
• Twilight
  Listen  
• Back to Here
  Listen  
• Incredible
  Listen  

Lyrics

• What it Is
• Twilight
• Always the Same
• Back to Here
• What I'm Missing

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• This review is from the Elbo room show 2-29-2008 [+ Show ]
  

  Former members of Lucius Warbaby, Bish and Perfect Red formed a man’s man-band that truly put the ...
  Former members of Lucius Warbaby, Bish and Perfect Red formed a man’s man-band that truly put the r-o-c-k back in rock, Fearless fans! Always The Villain made its music debut at the Elbo Room to a well received crowd of fans. Gone from this band is the screamin’ angst of heartache and in its place was hardcore guitar rock that blasted SouthSide’s ears. The Villain members seemed to jell together as they performed on stage especially the lead on vocals. Wow, he was really feeding off the vibes from the band and audience while singing. Villain’s sound compared to its predecessor was much grittier and alive that it really made you want to rock out with the band. Their new songwriting did tug this reviewer’s heart a little however it was the hardcore sound that she liked the most. Though having a few minor technical problems, these guys had a very good premiere set. This new band comes highly recommended if you love that hardcore man rock! Fearless fans, SouthSide encourages you to check out Always The Villain at www. myspace. com/alwaysthevillian or www. alwaysthevillain. com.
  
  Until next time, Fearless fans, support your local indie artists and music!
  
  Peace
  
  Check out the whole article and www.fearlessradio.com
  

• ATV CD Release at Elbo Room [+ Show ]
  

  Tonight, they weren't the bad guys with rockin' music like theirs. Always The Villain rocked the Elb...Tonight, they weren't the bad guys with rockin' music like theirs. Always The Villain rocked the Elbo Room crowd with their self-titled CD Release show. SouthSide was told before the performance began that it was nearly an hour from start to finish when performing all 13 tracks. What surprised this reviewer was the complete turnaround in ATV's rock sound from the last time she saw this band a year ago. They didn't quite lose the "man balls" rock (as she like to dub their music because the hardcore guitar sound would grab you by the balls) feel and tone heard within their songs. Oh no, it's still in there but not much of a focal point in their core rock genre. The "new" ATV has a slight pop sound (due to the addition of keyboard rhythms) yet retains an alternative rock groove with an edgier feel (due to the guitars) in the music. So, blogspot readers, ATV at any time ...at any moment can switch from pop/alternative to a hardcore man rock at the slightest whim. Not saying it's a bad thing but it shows this band's willing to be more diverse within their music and song. And this self-titled CD Release performance demonstrated just that. SouthSide suggests checking out track 2 - Andy (for its keyboard rhythms which doesn't overpopulate it into a poppy song but the guitars keep this song within its edgier tone ...plus Billy's vocals project plenty of vocal angst) ...track 4 - What It Is (louder ...angrier than ATV's previous songs before this one ...it rocked the crowd with its energy and vibrant sound off the riffs) ...and track 11 - Twilight (not about sparkly vamp wannabes not with the bluesy sound off the harmonics found in this song ...plus the downtempo feel in the music gave it a darker tone and sound *shivers* - real vampire-like music). SouthSide highly suggests checking out Always The Villain as well as snagging a copy of their self-titled CD. For more information, visit www.alwaysthevillain.com or www.myspace.com/alwaysthevillain.

Setlist

Always The Villain has roughly 40 original songs and can perform for several hours. And while we prefer not to perform covers we have roughly 15 in our repertoire.

Basic Requirements

Calendar