Bombing Stassney

"Let's go bomb Stassney!" someone would shout. Assent followed, and longboard terror would reign on Stassney Avenue...at least for a few minutes. And that's how the band Bombing Stassney ended up with its name. They're five guys looking to make their mark on the Austin music scene with a name that pays homage to one of south Austin's main thoroughfares.

Drummer Ryan Lorensen, who works as a waiter at Macaroni Grill to pay the rent, says all the band (except for new singer Cody) live together. They might be still bombing Stassney upon occasion, he didn't say.

Lorensen who has been making music since fifth grade orchestra has a diverse range of musical tastes. He'll listen to "anything, rap, jazz, even classical music. I'm pretty game for everything except country. "Though he admits he'll listen to country "once in a while."

His main focus is working to get his band noticed, through flyers, word of mouth and the internet. He grew up with one of the two guitar players (both coincidentally named Nick) in Arlington. He and Nick Kersen headed off to Florida fo school and there they met bass player Frank Prestigiacomo two years ago. Prestigiacomo is from upsate New York, and somehow they convinced him to move to Texas. The other Nick came back from California, and the last critical member of the band, vocalist Cody Hobbs, was found via a Craigslist ad four months ago.

“We had a big response to the ad, but Cody fit
right in,” Lorensen says. In fact, within a few minutes
they knew that Cody fit the band so well that everyone
felt he’d been a part of it for a long time. They’ve already
cut four demo songs (you can listen to them on their
MySpace page.

Listening to the four demo tunes, there’s a definite
rock edge, but singer Hobbs can sound different from
one song to another. This is a band that wants to surprise
– both itself and its’ listeners. Pestigiacomo says, “We
like our fans to know that we actually care about the
music, and that we write for them.”

Their music is still evolving, and they aren’t
committed to any one sound says Lorensen. “We’re not
straight forward radio rock, we put a lot of whatever we
can into the music. I’ll put jazz into it if I need to. We’re
still forming the sound a little bit, and we’re not totally
easy to categorize. We’re not a typical rock band.”

Lorensen says the band has been inspired by
Dredge, Tool, Björk and Radiohead among others. About
Bombing Stassney’s music, he says, “All our songs have
a great quality. We keep an edge on things, and like to
be on the forefront of the music. It’s pretty diverse, and
we keep it liquid.”

Prestigiacomo agrees and says he likes to think that the band sounds "only like us." He classifies their sound as somewhat post-indie/underground rock. "I love this band. I have so much faith in this band. I mean, I'd have to, to come to Austin from Orlando. I had met Ryan two years earlier, but we had only played together three months before I moved here." The move has been a good one for Prestigiacomo. Austin is "by far my favorite city," he says, "and everybody is so cool. Everybody appreciates art here."

Once Prestigiacomo arrived, the band practiced four nights a week, solidifying as a group, while they waited for the right singer to come along. When Cody showed up, Prestigiacomo says,"Things just started happening and they've been happening ever since."

written by:Christie Smith 3/08 - Nu Magazine