Born-Forty
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Born-Forty

Statesboro, Georgia, United States | SELF

Statesboro, Georgia, United States | SELF
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"Born-Forty’s brand of fun rock lit up the stage at Dos Primos this past weekend"

Thursday, 08 October 2009 15:42 Lighting up the Dos Primos stage and blasting pop rock out its speakers, Born-Forty put on a show Saturday night, the likes of which you don’t normally see or hear around Statesboro. When asked, keyboardist Hunter Johnson will tell you that Born-Forty’s sound is rock with “a dropkick of happiness.” Fog and laser lights swirled with Born-Forty’s catchy riffs to soundtrack your college night-life experience. Infusing joy into hard rock, Born-Forty brightly colors the landscape of local music, whether it’s rap, country or death metal. Every band strives for “an edge,” and here Born-Forty achieves it with a wry smile. Saturday night that smile was reflected on the faces of Born-Forty friends and fans. Together for less than a year, the Born-Forty crew has scored gigs not just around Statesboro but around Atlanta, Macon and Savannah. After their show these six friends nod eagerly as I ask about their long term plans. Front-man Scott Taylor said, “We’re committed to this as a career.” The band performed songs from their debut album, “Retro,” as well as crowd-hit rock covers of Lil’ Wayne’s “Lollipop” and 3OH!3’s “Don’t Trust Me.” The rock-amped, happy vibe translated through to the audience. Student Nicole Wright said, “They’re great guys and a lot of fun. And really talented.” While death metal bands may surge mosh pits and wreak havoc during rock shows, there’s a certain merit in making music that’s unabashedly upbeat. Born-Forty might not accurately express or channel college-student rage, but that isn’t their intention. Their dropkick-of-happy rock provides an antidote to the often angsty local metal, and within the midst of midterm exams, Born-Forty’s show was a welcome retreat. On Oct. 22 in the Russell Union ballroom, the band will be contributing to the St. Jude Up ‘Til Dawn fundraiser. - The George-Anne Daily


"Music artists: Prepare for ‘Battle’"

Thursday, 15 April 2010 18:35 Connect Statesboro and Retrievers Sports Bar and Grill are teaming up to bring the diverse stylings of nine local bands together Saturday, April 17 for what is sure to be an unforgettable night at Battle of the Bands. Beginning online at connectstatesboro.com, 11 bands entered the contest by posting videos of their musical talents, and from there, students, fans or anyone who felt the music move them deep inside were invited to vote-up to 10 times a day-for the band of their choice. However, on Saturday, the battle leaves the cyber world and lands right in the middle of one of Statesboro’s most popular watering holes. With doors opening at 5 p.m and the first band, Craig Waters, set to start at 6 p.m, patrons will enjoy 30 minutes of covers and original music from each band. All the while, three judges with be mixing and mingling with the crowd while critiquing the performances. Comprised of six Georgia Southern students — sophomore Scott Taylor, junior Tyler Whiteley, senior Mike Cristancho, sophomore Alan Weathers, sophomore Robert Cottle, and freshman Hunter Johnson, Born-Forty is one of the nine bands set to play Saturday. The self-described “pop-rock with an alternative edge” band found out about the contest, and they decided to enter online. “Battle of the Bands is one of the few times you can come together for a showcase of local talent,” vocalist Taylor said. “It’s a chance for all of the bands to gain great local exposure while performing their music. We have friends that are in some of the other bands competing, and it’ll be fun to share the Retrievers stage with them.” Born-Forty got their name from a stigma Taylor has carried almost his entire life. “People have always said that I was born forty years old, or that I’m an ‘old soul.’ As a kid, I wore a lot of suits, debated, always did the student council thing, worked political campaigns in high school, that sort of stuff,” Taylor said. “I always said if I had a band I’d call it ‘Born-Forty,’ and the name ended up sticking.” Immediately following Born-Forty’s 11:15 p.m performance is another local talent, Familiar Faces — junior James Massey, sophomore Kyle Gruskowski, senior Rhett Hutcheson, senior David Silva, and senior Matt Meeks. These five Georgia Southern students began playing together in November 2008. According to lead guitarist Hutcheson, the band’s history is traced back to a Tenacious D concert, and “the rest is history.” According to keyboardist Gruskowski, Familiar Faces’ style is along the lines of a “hip-hop-infused improvisational rock band,” and the band currently plays at least once, maybe twice, a week at various Statesboro venues such at Millhouse, Rum Runners and Dingus Magees. “We just want people to come out and enjoy our music because we sure as [expletive] enjoy playing,” bass guitarist Massey said. At the end of the night, the judges’ scores will be tallied with the online votes, and the band with the highest score will be taking home the win for the 2010 Battle of the Bands. Along with bragging rights, the band will take home $1,000 and will have four hours of recording studio time thanks to Pladd Dot Music. The band earning the most online votes will take home the Viewer’s Choice award and a new guitar courtesy of Deloach’s Music. From heavy metal to soul-soothing funk, Battle of the Bands is sure to appeal to everyone’s musical taste. - The George-Anne Daily


"Sweeping Battle and the Boro; Born Forty has been around for a year, and they're only getting bigger"

Born-Forty is taking the Boro and the nation by storm. It was almost one year ago to the day when Born Forty got their start playing at Georgia Southern University's Recreation Activity Center one day before Dashboard Confessional would share the same stage for their campus performance. They thought they hit it big then. One year later, Scott Taylor, Tyler Whiteley, Mike Cristancho, Alan Weathers, Robert Cottle, and Hunter Johnson have come to realize that it was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. On their growing list of accomplishments, the guys of Born Forty have added 2010 Battle of the Bands winner and the competition’s Viewers’ Choice Award thanks to 14,380 local reader votes in the online portion of Connect Statesboro’s Battle of the Bands. Sweeping the judges and the fans off their feet was their ultimate goal. Not only did they hit the ground running, but they had a plan. The group started a guerrilla-style marketing campaign that swept across campus. “We did a lot of direct contacting on campus,” said Taylor, the go-to band member for publicity. “We handed out at least 2000 fliers. That’s 10 percent of the student population.” That’s not all they did. Facebook played the biggest part in their operation to take home top honors at Battle of the Bands. Theirs was a strategy most politicians would envy. “The most effective thing we did was an online campaign for it,” said Taylor. “We created a Facebook event for it and a Facebook group for it. We would go on Facebook chat and talk to our friends and get them to register right then.” From there, Born Forty proceeded to constantly talk up Battle of the Bands. It paid off; they had around 700 new users register to vote for them in the online portion of the contest. Born Forty utilized the same strategy to get people to attend Battle of the Bands, which took place at Retrievers. “Fortunately our friends and fans stuck with it and put up with us keeping in touch with them every day,” said Taylor. “We’d only been bothering them for a month about coming to the show.” “It got to the point they were so used to voting, they would be like ‘I voted already,’” said Johnson. The guys admitted that their performance was boosted by news they learned beforehand: Born Forty won the coveted Viewers’ Choice Award. After that, it was just a matter of proving to the judges they deserved the honor. “You gotta choose your songs wisely,” said Cristancho. “Of course you want some crowd interaction, that’s why you put the covers in there. Then you throw some originals in there just to show people what you can do.” The group came together and discussed ways to ensure the show was an energetic and upbeat performance. “We wanted to throw in the two covers to maintain crowd involvement. We started off strong with one of our high-energy songs, then we did a cover of Lil Wayne’s ‘Lollipop’,” said Taylor. “Then right after that you go with your own singles. Then when they do last call, you come back with a cover.” Fans are what Born Forty attributes their success to. For those unaccustomed to the way guitarist Cristancho took a picture of the crowd, here is your answer. “I always snap a picture when I’m not playing of the crowd and throw it up on Facebook and tell people to tag themselves,” said Cristancho. Taylor added that was the perfect picture for them, and the group has an actual photo album devoted to fans. There is nothing better for a band than to have a picture of a crowd of fans, he added. “I get put into a trance when I play. It's apparent that I have a completely different persona on stage. I like seeing the reactions on people's faces after they see this short and stocky guy fly six feet across stage and plant his hands on the keys with a priceless facial expression to top it off,” said Johnson. “I like throwing in the thematic elements into songs. I make gestures and faces that mesh great with Scott's lyrics. I can sometimes hear roars of laughter and cheers because of it.” Cristancho added it’s surreal to have people sing lyrics back to him on stage because people have taken the time and care enough to learn the lyrics to one of the band’s songs. “The personal satisfaction you get after hours upon hours of practice really pays off when you show it off,” said Weathers. Of course, Battle almost turned into something of a mess for Born Forty. It all started with trailer drama on the Bypass. “I was on the way to Battle and our trailer came off the trailer. I was going down the Bypass and it felt like the load was a lot lighter. Then I felt this tug,” said Taylor. “We had a lot of the weight towards the back. It looked like the trailer was kind of para-sailing. I expressed my concern vocally by myself in the car. I stopped, and the trailer landed on the bumper and was able to limp it off the Bypass.” It’s definitely not anything new for the guys to deal with things going awry on the day of a big performance. “Any time there’s anything that’s super important, you want to try eliminating all the variables,” said Johnson. Luckily, it made things a little better when the guys swept Battle. The band isn’t looking back, either. They’re looking ahead and plan on using Battle of the Bands as a springboard into their upcoming national tour consisting of 40 cities in about a month and a half. They’ve also got a new album coming out. “We’re looking to release February 2011. We’ll release digitally some tracks before that,” said Taylor. “We haven’t titled the album yet, but we’re working with a really good producer on some of the tracks.” That producer happens to also be a former performing artist from Sony. As for the tour, it’s an extended version of what Born Forty did over the winter where the guys did 11 shows in 14 days. “We were like, oh gosh, this is gonna be tough,” said Johnson, looking back on that tour. “The toughest part of touring is the travel. An hour on stage in Chicago is a cakewalk compared to the fifteen hour drive it takes to get there,” said Taylor. However, the guys consider each other family. That helps keep tensions at a minimum. “Scott tends to be the voice of reason. Tyler is a lot of fun; he's the tech guy. Mike works on the MySpace. Alan is one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen play and couldn't imagine not having him around. Hunter puts on the best show from behind a keyboard,” said bassist Cottle of the members. “We all share the same sense of humor, so there is never a dull moment when we’re together. This band is very much like a family,” said Whiteley. “We are all dedicated to what we do and we are each extremely passionate about our music. I consider each of the guys brothers.” Statesboro’s Battle sweepers toured around five states in the icy snow, and they admit to having their fair share of adventures on the road. They survived and used the experience as a testing ground to see how they worked together over a long stint of time. When that went well, they started planning immediately for the national tour. “Basically, we’ve been wanting to kind of branch out,” said Taylor. “We’ve got some different cities that based on our online sales and online traffic we wanted to play in just because we knew we could draw some kind of a crowd from.” Born Forty can’t express enough just how important fans are to them. “We work hard. We try to do as much as we can to put our music out there and to be organized and be smart about the methods we use to try to be successful,” said Taylor. “But ultimately it’s people that we meet and people that like our music, and I know it sounds so cliché but the fans are ultimately what make you successful." - Connect Statesboro


"Born-Forty; Buzz grows as young, South Georgia band prepares for national tour."

A 2010 Battle of the Bands and Viewers Choice Award winner; Born-Forty is a pop-rock band hailing from the campus of Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. In mid-June the band of six will be kicking off a 45 day national tour, including more than 25 performances from New York to Los Angeles. They will be promoting their independently released debut album, entitled “RETRO,” as well as a new EP entitled "Enjoy the Ride." Born-Forty’s music has made its way into rotation on various Top 40 and Active Rock stations across the U.S. and parts of Europe. The band has been featured and praised by the likes of Entertainment Connect Editor, Mary-Kate Roan, and Clear Channel’s Project 9-6-1 (96.1 FM Atlanta). Born-Forty currently tours independently, performing original music, as well as a few critically acclaimed covers from artists such as Lady Gaga, Lil’Wayne, Ke$ha, and 3OH!3. Known for its high-energy performances, Born-Forty features the lights, lasers, synth, and sound of a true world-class performer. This is definitely a band to stay tuned into. For more information on Born-Forty, visit www.bornforty.com. - Eventful


Discography

RETRO [LP] (2009)
Perfect Picture [EP] (2010)

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Bio

A Battle of the Bands and Viewers Choice Award winner; Born-Forty is an unsigned pop-rock band hailing from Statesboro, Georgia. The band recently completed an independent national tour, including over 45 shows from New York to L.A. They were a featured band on Shop Til You Rock, a national concert series with Disneys Demi Lovato. Born-Forty is promoting its debut album, RETRO, as well as a new EP entitled Perfect Picture. Their music has been featured by the likes of Entertainment Connect and Clear Channel’s Project 9-6-1 (96.1 FM Atlanta). Recently voted as one of the Top 10 unsigned bands in the U.S. in the Converse Presents Music Contest, Born-Forty records, distributes, promotes, and tours independently. Known for its high-energy performances, Born-Forty’s shows feature amazing lights, lasers, synth, and sound. Learn more about Born-Forty at www.bornforty.com.