Intercept

By Staff Writer L. Anne Carrington

With Magnolia Road, Intercept mixes adult contemporary pop and 90s college radio alterna-pop. It's a fetching blend that is difficult to pass up, even if it isn't your type of thing.

"Stand Back" is the perfect opening track, the listener will be drawn in to the arrangements as well as the alluring delivery of its vocals. The subsequent cuts are also quite good, blending picked chords with power. It may fall flat on anyone else, but Intercept finds a way to make it work throughout Magnolia Road.

Emo and shoegaze also subtly appear in Intercept's music; it shows in "Two Broken Astronauts," reminiscent of Radiohead, Kayak, Thompson-era Manfred Mann, and Pink Floyd, with a little soft rock thrown in. Also listen Listen for some of the band's recessed secondary guitar lines in Four Letter Word.. Turn away for a second, and you'd miss it!

However, If you are a fan of acoustic tracks with great vocals, then "Berlin" is the track for you. It's a clean, simple, no-frills work of art in acoustics.

"Beautiful One" is also a track not to be missed; it opens with an ocean sound effect and then evolves into the guitar style that brings off a "wave effect" sound, making it the most stand out song on the album.

Overall, Magnolia Road is a beautiful album that contains so much expression without the fancy additions. It's clean, uncomplicated, taking us back to compositional techniques lost to modern mainstream ensembles. It is truly indie music at its finest. - Indie Music Stop

Natalie, Hard Rock Cafe, Lake Tahoe
Booking Manager

"I'm writing to recommend the band, Intercept. Intercept performed live at the Hard Rock Cafe Lake Tahoe on September 28th, 2008 in conjunction with our fundraiser, "Pinktober," where the Hard Rock Cafes worldwide raise money for cancer charities during the month of October.

On the day of the performance, the load in, set up, sound check, and tear down went extremely smoothly due to the band's attention to the requests of our venue, and the band was extremely pleasant and very low maintenance. They were very engaging with the crowd, and most importantly, they sounded awesome! All of the guests were impressed with the music, and many instant Intercept fans were created that night. The Cafe has a very wide demographic in regards to guests, and Intercept appealed to the young and all the way up to the older crowd. The entire staff and all of the guests enjoyed the unique and original style of the music.

The band was great at feeling out the crowd, and starting mellow, then kicking it up toward the end of the set. Christian was very nice to work with from the stages of booking to the end of the performance. I highly suggest Intercept for bookings in your venue!" - Hard Rock Cafe, Lake Tahoe

(From NeuFutur.com)
Intercept - Magnolia Road / 2008 Self / www.interceptheband.com /
“Two Broken Astronauts” is the perfect introduction to Intercept. During “Two Broken Astronauts”, there are hints of a number of distinct genres of music, rock, pop-punk, alternative rock, and even a little bit of emo sneaks in at points. “Two Broken Astronauts” is a very emotional track, whether it be the memorable vocals, the chunky bass line, or the guitars that are presented here. The strongest part of Intercept during this track has to be the band’s high energy, along with the related ability to rein in that energy. Intercept is thus able to make very intricate arrangements, pushing at the limits of what has previously been done.
“Two Broken Astronauts” is a solid song on the album, but each of the cuts on “Magnolia Road” could easily bring success to Intercept. “Stand Back” is a slower track, allowing Intercept to wow listeners with the interplay that the band creates between the guitars, drums, and vocals. The harmonies achieved by the vocals during “Stand Back” build up into something inspiring, the musical equivalent to a dreamy day. When Intercept gets to the chorus, the swirling guitars and splashing drums further highlight the stellar vocals, until the band moves back to the earlier style. “Berlin” is a track that blends two distinct sounds - an acoustic guitar, strumming along, with the sweeping lines of a “Gravity”, and links the different facets and approaches taken by Intercept into one cohesive, album-reaching, style.
“Gravity” is similar to “Berlin” in terms of its cohesive qualities; Intercept links together the work of Incubus, Papa Roach, and Three Days Grace into a smooth, soulful track that has a hard edge hiding just underneath the surface. To ensure that a wider array of fans can appreciate the track, the driving instrumental section that links together the two distinct parts of the track will appease fans of Foo Fighters and Desert City Soundtrack alike. Southern California has another solid band on their hands, one that can take in all the different iterations and approaches to rock music and put forth a unique style based off that amalgamation. Pick up “Magnolia Road” at your local independent record shop, through the iTunes Media Store (ITMS), or from the band when they tour. If you are in San Diego, Burbank, Hollywood, or Malibu in the next two months, make it a point see Intercept live.
Top Tracks: Beautiful One, Berlin
Rating: 7.8/10
- NeuFutur.com

Intercept hailing from North Hollywood has released their sophomore album entitled Magnolia Road. Magnolia Road offers a mix of Alternative, Rock and Pop Songs.
Intercept is made up of four members. Christian Knudsen on Vocals, and Rhythm Guitar, Jeff Knudsen on Lead Guitar, Jason Weiner on Drums and Phil Romo on Bass Guitar.
“Stand Back” offers soft well polished vocals that mixes and stirs the perfect remedy to blend with the Acoustics in the song. The song starts off with a very soothing acoustic feeling which is later mixed with a heavier Electric Guitar sound. The song tweaks my interest because of Jason continually clashing with the cymbals. I find the mixture works really well because it shows the different characteristics and influences that Intercept incorporates with their music.
My choice for Intercepts first single off of Magnolia Road I would have to go with “Home”. The song starts off slowly with a high tone echoing guitar effect sound. “Home” is a good example of how Intercept has blended Alternative, Rock and Pop genres together. As in many songs off of Magnolia Road the vocals really stand out to me. The Vocals always seem to stay in the right tone and softness to match the instruments in the song. The guitar riff that appears in the opening of the song is played throughout most of the song, while the riff is noticeable throughout the song the loudness of the riff is turned down a bit so the vocals and other guitar sound above the riff.
“Beautiful One” is a song that has to be heard off of this album. This song is my favourite off of the album, the songs could be easily follow “Home” as a single from the album. The song starts off with a Ocean sound effect, which you immediately feel throughout the song. After the ocean effect finishes, and by the way that the Guitar is being played it gives you a “Wave effect” sound. The great guitar picking in this song really makes “Beautiful One” stand out in Magnolia Road. The opening guitar riff is the main base of the song, as the riff is played throughout the song. I think this is the one song on the album where the vocals are not the best feature about the song but they take the backseat behind the guitar. The Bass Guitar very noticeable in parts of the song which I find doesn’t happen very often in songs., but does add a nice touch to the main riff of the song.
If you are a fan of acoustic tracks with great vocals then “Berlin” is the track for you. What I like about the song mostly is the simplicity of the song. The acoustic guitar stands out more to me than the electric guitar that is played overtop of the acoustic later on in the song. If I had a choice in the final outcome of the song I probably would have kept the song an acoustic track only. I would however have kept the drums in the song as the drums have a nice bass sound to them. But going with the Electric Guitar in the song Intercept keeps with their own sound.
- partyinkingston.com

Yellow Dog is an album that is worth a listen to if you like pop and acoustic rock. After I listened to the album through only once I thought to my self this is one heck of a good album. I enjoy listening to a lot of different genres so I am used to music that can be tolerated or listened to by certain ages but when it comes down to the point this is an album that can be really be enjoyed by all ages. Pretty well any radio station that plays Rock, Classic Rock, or Pop there is a song that could be played from this album. The album is not too soft and it isn’t too hard. The Acoustic guitars is very blemishing to the ears in Yellow Dog, it gives the songs the added touch that would be lost if an electric guitar was used. Intercept’s influences differ from artists such as Incubus, Pearl Jam, Cold Play, The Beetles, and The Dave Matthews Band. While listening to the tracks my mind couldn’t take me away from hearing a touch of Traci Chapman and Joni Mitchell. Yellow Dog clocks in at about thirty five minutes and contains eight tracks.

“Home” starts up Intercepts Yellow Dog. The opening sounds are a echoing electric guitar solo. Christian’s voice is soft and is blended in with the echoing guitar. The song picks up speed and sound after about a minute. What caught my ears in this song was really the small extension of the word “Who” in the last line in the first verse.

“Maybe you're a friend of mine,
Maybe you're alone somewhere...
And I pray for you and I don't know why
Maybe I'd be better off
Thinking of someone who...”

It is the way what Christian raises and carries his voice for that small moment that makes me wait and listen when I hear the first verse play again in the song.

“On The Way” is my favorite track from Yellow Dog. The opening segment of the song stopped my finger from hitting the next track button the first time I had the album in my CD player. The opening guitar solo is the main key for this song. The same riff is played through out most of the song. The riff picks up speed and is strengthened in about the middle of the song and the new tempo is carried out through to the finish. I found this is where I really made up my mind that this song was my favorite song on Yellow Dog. The vocals are soft and strong, the vocal hits the high points where it fits into the song perfectly. The vocals are not too soft where it would be considered bubblegum pop but sits right on the borderline of pop and/or rock. To Finish out the vocals in the song Christian carries out the last note for about seven seconds, but the acoustics still go on for about 20 to finish out the song.

“Berlin” is a soft melodic vocally sound song. This song shines a soft acoustical evening performance. The song lyrics are written in an innuendo. The first contents of the lyrics are of the place Berlin but I feel and believe the real allusion is lyrics are written to be all about a woman.


“When I think of Berlin, I see her as a person,
Quite a pretty picture,
Quiet, tiny, perfect, you know --
Smiling like Candlelight.

If I was a lucky man I would have seen her coming,
Would have had a better job, would have worked up just a little style by now...
Made my body beautiful...”


“Beautiful One” is a song that is worth a mention. “Beautiful One” is where I found that the song had similarities to the vocals of Traci Chapman and Joni Mitchell. The way the vocals tend to start off a bit low and then as the vocals finish out the lyric the vocals get stronger.

There are easily two possibly three singles that can be pulled off of this album and those songs would be in my opinion “Home”, “On The Way” and “Fool”. This is one of the few acoustic albums that I own and enjoy. Because of the songs “On The Way” and “Fool” I have placed Yellow Dog along between my Days Of The New and Neil Young albums.

- Matt Hartwick
Entertainment Editor
Partyinkingston.com
- partyinkingston.com

By Jonathan Davis

Intercept’s latest album, Magnolia Road, will no doubt be downloaded (hopefully legally) into 99% of the iPods walking around campuses this fall. The opening track “Stand Back” starts you off with a familiar alt-rock feel that continues into “Gravity," which has that stick-in-your-head hook that would make it my pick for the first single to show up on our radios. Then comes “Two Broken Astronauts," a cut that puts a little emo into the mix. It’s these kinds of diverse influences that make Magnolia Road appealing to so many. Too many times we see great bands release an album where all the tracks sound the same and bore us to death; not so with these guys. The classical background of brothers Christian and Jeff Knudsen adds a depth to their music that's evident in the layered guitar riffs on “Four Letter Word." Even though they are transplants to the SoCal area from Kansas, you can feel the ocean in “Home." From the acoustic feel of “Berlin” to the harder edge of “Push,” this album has something for everyone. Definitely a band to keep our eye on. 4 out of 5 stars. - Reax Magazine

This captivating Southern California-based quartet structures its sound around sensitive guitar riffs, while harnessing dream-like instrumentals. Intercept’s idiosyncratic, quirky songs rock in a conventional, accessible way, while always managing to remain distinct. With a mixture of delicate, light-hearted vocals and prominent power chords, it’s clear that the band’s forte is putting listeners at ease while inspiring them to raise their fists. And with the welcome vulnerability of songs like “Imaginary Friends” and “Berlin,” Intercept will make listeners want to reminisce about first loves or discover new ones. And we’ve definitely found ours in Intercept. - Rumblefish

An extremely fetching blend of soft rock, soft prog, and driving rock and roll, Intercept crafts a brand of music impossible to resist. Right from the opening cut, with its cleverly arranged Pink Floyd space-country background decorating an entrancing vocalist's alluring delivery, Magnolia Road builds a very pleasant foundation. Stand Back draws the attention happily in, then bursts like a dam, quickening the heartbeat while rejuvenating the spirit. The second cut's just as good, a pristinely engineered contrast of delicately picked chords and power blocks emphasizing singer Christian's (no surnames are given anywhere) floating pipes delivering enigmatic lines of wistful trepidation.

Emo and shoegaze make their ways subtly into Intercept's music. The lads have absorbed their histories well and don't insult the listener with dry recitations or facile insertions. Two Broken Astronauts blends a bit of Radiohead, Kayak, Thompson-era Manfred Mann, Pink Floyd once again, and a generous dollop of the most satisfying soft rock available. The result is bafflingly singular while irresistibly chart-friendly, catching a mid-point between genres not usually so well-blended without becoming goopy and bland.

Much of Magnolia Road is quartet based with acoustically oriented refrains and bases, so much so that even the roaring parts are clearly a matter of tremendously amplified exhilaration overtopping the laybacks in bursts of energy and expression. Listen carefully for some of the band's subtler effects, as with the recessed secondary guitar lines in Four Letter Word, a clever blend of the bass' and guitar's functions, then trip out to the middle eight's wah-wah'ed lead line. Beautiful, so much expression in such a clean and uncomplicated set of measures, continuing on to watch over the rest of the song until its end, harking back to compositional techniques lost to modern mainstream ensembles.

Mention should be made here of Rhonda Kelley, of the Rainmaker PR unit, who has a singular talent for understanding what direction certain underexposed intelligent musics should be taking. Over the past year or so, she's submitted a string of exceptional releases, and this group, along with Trueheart and several others, is at the top of the pile. Trueheart may be more slanted to trad chart ambiences, but Intercept is a treasure of arresting nu-rock somewhat along the lines of John Orsi's non-hard-prog ensembles like Overflower. We could do with a hell of a lot more music like this.

by Mark S. Tucker - Acousticmusic.com

Intercept - "Magnolia Road"
by Digital Ayahuasca
June 20, 2008

This California band is more than just a crowd pleasing alternative rock group with college groupies. The Knudsen brothers (Christian and Jeff) that formed the group in 2004 were actually on the path to classical music (piano, violin, cello) throughout their youth, until high school taught them a valuable lesson: chicks dig the rock strings more than the classical strings. They both picked up acoustic guitars and haven't looked back since.

After moving to California and playing hundreds of "open mic" acoustic shows, they prepared to put together a demo to shop around. They enlisted the help of a drummer and bassist they knew from various gigs and began creating a set-list and sound that would ultimately become this wonderful gem of a major release, "Magnolia Road".

Some of the songs are straight-up alt. rock (a la early Matchbox Twenty, Third Eye Blind, etc.) and some are gorgeously crafted, melodic, acoustic charmers that feature the brothers' dueling acoustic guitars. Christian's voice is reminiscent of Paul Simon on some of the tracks (especially the beautiful "Berlin" , but he remains unique enough to blaze his own path. His vocals are always clear, sweet and full of emotion. He has a falsetto that's not as annoying as some other major artists (Maroon 5, I'm looking at you).

The tracks on "Magnolia Road" are varied enough that the entire album does not sound like one song or one mood. There's creativity dripping from each verse; there's catchy sing-song choruses that I'm sure all the girls know by heart and sing at the top of their lungs during an Intercept live set; there's plenty of distinctive SoCal rock riffs with gentle accompaniments (Sublime, anyone?). And some of the electric guitar solos remind me of the band 311.

I honestly can't pick a favorite track here, and there aren't even any tracks that I consider disposable. If I had to tell someone to listen to a few tracks to get an idea of their sound, I'd choose "Stand Back" and "Push" to hear the band's alt. rock stylings, "Beautiful One" to hear their SoCal flavor and "Berlin" or "Drift" to hear their Indie-acoustic soul.

I love this entire album, however, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys alt. rock or contemporary college rock with some heart. I find it especially great for listening while working since it's upbeat without being distracting. - Digital Ayahuasca d'zone

8/10 stars
by Erica Mendez

Rising out of West Hollywood California, Intercept takes rock, indie, and pop music to combine it into a new sound that gets people feeling and questioning what should be happening in their lives. For having the same name as their record label, the label should feel justified as Intercept, the band, creates some pretty laid back music that many will enjoy.

Anticipating a poppy sound with sentimental lyrics, it came as a shock when the music delivered was rock with a hint of indie sounds. Their songs are well developed lyrically and musically, lengthening in an average of 4 minutes each.

The band consists of Christian Knudsen (Vocals and Rhythm guitar), Jeff Knudsen (lead guitar), Jason Weiner (drums), and Phil Romo (bass.) It turns out that Christian and Jeff are brothers who made the group because Christian wanted to release some of his acoustic material. This then turned into Intercept throughout the period.

Their songs have strong lyrics and catchy hooks. Yet the musical sense and timing are pure Alternative Rock -- a concept many musicians cannot seem to master. Long as their songs may be, Intercept pushes their music into many forms and genres, letting fans read into the lyrics rather than laying them out for strict interpretation.

Intercept's music captured my attention immediately... I count five potential singles out of the twelve tracks on Magnolia Road. A must-hear is Stand Back, a song that is not all about running everything together in a mish-mash of sounds. Instead, like with every other track, Stand Back showcases how the lyrics convey a message, rather than just resorting to cliche power anthems and other pointless musical interludes other bands often resort to.

“I had to keep her so I made her a key. And made her promise she would only dance with me. And we lived this close to perfect harmony,” sings Christian on Beautiful One. This song is all about how things can get lost in chaos, but ultimately work out in the end. Relationships are tricky, but this song points out there is always someone out there to be the “beautiful one” in your world.

Another potential single is Four Letter Word. The song begins with gentle guitar and bass. The element of softness is nostalgic and the lyrics thought-provoking. “Love is just a four letter word. And words are just another chance to lie. We say love to assume too much to mean enough.”

Lyrics are what allow Intercept to transcend most stereotypical Alternative Rock. It's like they're channeling old U2, but in the style of today's Indie scene.

Playing around California and wishing to make it in the business, I believe Intercept will provide a 'different sound' many people will appreciate. For this band, it has always been all about the music and they show it off well. Some of their songs have been featured on MTV's original programming... hopefully MTV will pay more attention and maybe help bring this band to the next level.

Magnolia Road puts Intercept on a path toward individuality. They have a popular sound, but don’t sound like everyone else out there. That's why this CD is a keeper! - www.music-reviewer.com