Bait

Bait cannons high trajectory
by K3Dø Matthews Freelance Writer & Author

Velocity Atrocity, Bait’s second installment of their “Traitor Odium Anthology”, rips a gapping hole through convention while maintaining everything good in heavy music. Recorded at Yellow Dog Studios, with Dave Percefull co-producing(3 Days Grace, Bowling For Soup, Garth Brooks) and Mixed/Mastered by Derek Taylor at Milo Studios(Blue October, Bush, The Burden Brothers), Velocity Atrocity embodies a confidence and maturity few musicians ever manage to get on tape. “This is the most comfortable I have ever felt in the studio.” Rhett Garcia (vocals) recalls. Bryan Parker (guitars) adds, “From song writing to actual recording, it was an amazing experience. Dave and Derek have really caught our vision. They get us.”

Like their previous release (“Pull the Trigger”), Velocity Atrocity showcases both the diversity and energy that has made Bait a fan favorite for years. The songs are introspective and yet very universal. “I wrote “Inside” during a very difficult time in my life.” Rhett Garcia (vocalist) explains. “It is about looking outside of yourself and realizing that the world is bigger than you.”

“What passion, what ecstasy while chasing a dream.” The opening line to “Tsunami” seems to define the attitude of Bait. Passionate, energetic and uncompromising Bait stands ready to dominate the hard rock scene. I suggest getting on board or getting out of the way. - Freelance

Feb. 6--What do you need to catch an audience?

"Bait," Bryan Parker said.

"And that's what we are," he said. "We have what an audience wants."

As proof of the Tulsa band's name, Bait has tunes being spun on the airwaves of more than 50 radio stations nationwide.

"This is really starting to blow up for us," said Parker, member of the band, Bait.

The alternative rockers will be playing Saturday night at Max's Garage. They will be covering songs from bands like Metallica, Foo Fighters, U2, Nine Inch Nails, Audioslave, The Cure, Velvet Revolver and a few of their own original songs like "Ballad Unknown."

"This will be our first time playing in Muskogee," Parker said. "But we are excited. We have heard it's a cool venue and we think a place we might fit in."

The four-member group, all from the Tulsa metro area, is taking the music scene by storm. Bait features vocals by Rhett Nova, guitarist Parker, bass player Marc Nelson and drummer Trent Creekmore.

With more than 4,000 Myspace friends and more than 150,000 online plays, the band also was nominated for a Spot Music Award for "Best Hard Rock Act."

Bait also gets a lot of air play on local Tulsa stations, Z104.5 The Edge and KMOD 97.5.

"We have a couple of opportunities for movie soundtracks," Parker said.

But he can't disclose the possible movies just yet.

"Things are really moving along," he said. "If we do a soundtrack that means we get royalties off of every time the movie is played, in theaters, on DVD, on HBO or anything. So it's great. Not to mention royalties off the radio itself."

So it looks like Parker may be able to give up his day job as a cosmetologist very soon.

"I have my license," he said. "I can make my own schedule so that's cool."

Bait is working on the third installment of their "Traitor Odium Anthology."

Their first album release on the anthology, "Pull The Trigger," is where the song, "Gone," can be found. The second album released in the anthology in 2008, "Velocity Atrocity," has the track "Ballad Unknown," which has received more than 11,000 plays on Bait's Myspace page alone.

Reach Travina Coleman at 684-2901 or tcoleman@muskogeephoenix.com.

To see more of the Muskogee Phoenix or to subscribe to the Newspaper, go to http://www.muskogeephoenix.com.

Copyright (c) 2009, Muskogee Phoenix, Okla.

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- Muskogee Phoenix

Bait and switch
By MATT GLEASON
Tulsa World Scene Writer
8/25/2006



Modern rock band grapples with harsh topics on new EP release

Bait front man Rhett Garcia's got a drill sergeant's voice.
You know, the kind of commanding snarl that snaps you to attention.

Instead of ordering his fans to drop and give him 20, though, the lithe vocalist has a therapist's urge to help others in charging, sometimes ferocious, cuts that evoke comparisons to the likes of Down, but -- and this is because Garcia can actually sing melodically -- Bait's sound also is tinged with modern rock.

On "Burn Away" -- the second track off the local group's latest EP, "Pull the Trigger" -- Garcia barks his fist-clenching chorus "Burn away the disbelief/Burn all the pain and grief/No more debt to pay/I'm moving on to a brighter day."

All along, Garcia's cohorts lay down a heavy, raging accompaniment, complete with Bryan Parker and Kedo Matthews' guitar heroics.

On the heavy-hitting cut "Gone," which Garcia said was inspired by a Bible verse, the lead singer exhorts the oft-told advice that yesterday is gone, so focus on the here and now.

The EP's lone ballad, "Locked," begins with an acoustic guitar riff and Garcia's plaintive vocals asking

"Does anyone see the pain I'm going through?" The tune later takes on a harder-edged mood as the protagonists yearns to break away from his despair.
Garcia penned the tune after seeing "The Butterfly Effect," the 2004 Ashton Kutcher science-fiction movie that found Kutcher's character traveling through time to undo his childhood traumas and abuse.

Once Garcia sat down to write "Locked," the words came easily as he "channeled someone who has gone through an abusive cycle in his life," and yearned to "see beyond, and live beyond, the experiences of the past."

As he wrote the heart-rending tune, tears welled in his eyes.

"Yeah," he said laughing. "I admit that I'm a bit of a cry-baby ... I've always had a thing throughout my life where if I'm emotionally affected by something, I'll cry.

"It wasn't like I was sobbing," he pointed out. "It just choked me up pretty good."

Guitarist Parker said he was "floored" by the song because he was sexually-abused as a child.

"I completely related to the song and understood what it was about," Parker said. "... For myself, just kind of hollering out saying, 'You know, sometimes I'm not good for my own self' and wanting to look for an out from that."

The five-song EP, which was produced by former Nixons singer Zac Maloy, is the first of three forthcoming discs in Bait's "Traitor Odium Anthology."

The band opted to release a series of EPs -- the series should conclude in 2007 -- rather than recording one full-length disc, Parker said.

"It allows us some time to be more creative with it, put a little more into the budget, put a little more into a song," he said, "and then try to spread that money out and try to make the songs as best we can." - Tulsa World

By MATT GLEASON
Tulsa World Scene Writer

Bait's new CD, "Cain/dis/able" finds it's lead singer, Rhett Garcia, singing metal tunes that deal with inner demons and living in a world full of turmoil.
The title track to the local act's CD is an eerie cut about "finding whatever's in your life that is your enemy or is against you, and calling it for what it is, " Garcia said.
It's eeriness is bolstered by spoken lyrics that sound as if they're uttered through a prison camp bull horn.
The following song "Distilled," is about human purification and creating a foundation to rebuild oneself upon. Garcia's inspiration was dealing with his divorce.
" A lot of people let that be something they become," he said. "That's their moniker, 'I Am Divorced.' "
Garcia, who has since remarried, said he's never fallen into that state of mind.
"That's part of the process of being distilled - not allowing outside influences to completely dictate who you are," he said.
Bait will celebrate the release of its CD on Friday at The Life Connection, 1015 W. Main St. in Jenks. The doors are open at 7 p.m. It's a free, all ages event.

- Matt Gleason
Tulsa World Reporter - Tulsa World

"...like a collision course freighter filled with colossal rock!" - Derek Taylor(Mix/Master Engineer)

"...ready to dominate the hard rock scene. I suggest getting on board or getting out of the way." - Kedo Matthews(Writer/Author)

"You guys freakin' ROCK!!!" - Aidan Jones(Fan from MySpace) - A simple group of quotes