Echo & Drake
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Echo & Drake

Wethersfield, Connecticut, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2005 | INDIE

Wethersfield, Connecticut, United States | INDIE
Established on Jan, 2005
Band Rock Indie

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Music

Press


"Best Band of 2012"

There's something about Echo and Drake's music that hits a lot of pop pleasure centers and calls out to a mainstream audience while repping contemporary indie rock styles — the clean guitar lines, the insistent rhythms, the swirling synths, the blankets of reverb and delay, and of course singer/multi-instrumentalist Jon Ericson's vocals, sung in a high tenor and somehow sounding simultaneously intimate and distant. Their still-new album Sundrenched Elsewhere — as apt a title as any — is a sonically rich studio affair that feels significant in its density. "It's maybe kind of lame to say your band is epic," Ericson says with a chuckle, but he adds the band used as many as 80 individual tracks to record one song. The album was also the culmination of Ericson and guitarist Rich DeVito's now-seven-year-long collaboration, during which time, Ericson said, he wrote a lot about the travails of early adulthood. "They say your teens are your angsty period, but my 20s" — he laughs again. While they might sound blissed-out on the surface, he says the album's songs are "all expressing some kind of frustration. There's a melancholy touch to everything. We can't help it." Large as the album sounds, Ericson says the band wants to give restraint a try. In new recordings, he says, "we're trying to have a maximum of one or two tracks per person." And even if he notices life making a little more sense these days, he adds, "I'm sure there'll be other difficult points in my life" to fuel that creativity. - www.ct.com/The Hartford Advocate/New Haven Advocate/Fairfield Weekly


"Best Band of 2012"

There's something about Echo and Drake's music that hits a lot of pop pleasure centers and calls out to a mainstream audience while repping contemporary indie rock styles — the clean guitar lines, the insistent rhythms, the swirling synths, the blankets of reverb and delay, and of course singer/multi-instrumentalist Jon Ericson's vocals, sung in a high tenor and somehow sounding simultaneously intimate and distant. Their still-new album Sundrenched Elsewhere — as apt a title as any — is a sonically rich studio affair that feels significant in its density. "It's maybe kind of lame to say your band is epic," Ericson says with a chuckle, but he adds the band used as many as 80 individual tracks to record one song. The album was also the culmination of Ericson and guitarist Rich DeVito's now-seven-year-long collaboration, during which time, Ericson said, he wrote a lot about the travails of early adulthood. "They say your teens are your angsty period, but my 20s" — he laughs again. While they might sound blissed-out on the surface, he says the album's songs are "all expressing some kind of frustration. There's a melancholy touch to everything. We can't help it." Large as the album sounds, Ericson says the band wants to give restraint a try. In new recordings, he says, "we're trying to have a maximum of one or two tracks per person." And even if he notices life making a little more sense these days, he adds, "I'm sure there'll be other difficult points in my life" to fuel that creativity. - www.ct.com/The Hartford Advocate/New Haven Advocate/Fairfield Weekly


"#1 Connecticut Album of 2011"

It’s incredibly rare for a band to emerge sounding as fully formed as Echo & Drake does on the Wethersfield group’s new self-released debut, “Sundrenched Elsewhere.”…an album full of great songs, from a band that immediately vaults to the top of the heap of Connecticut’s most promising acts. - Eric Danton - Hartford Courant


"#1 Connecticut Album of 2011"

It’s incredibly rare for a band to emerge sounding as fully formed as Echo & Drake does on the Wethersfield group’s new self-released debut, “Sundrenched Elsewhere.”…an album full of great songs, from a band that immediately vaults to the top of the heap of Connecticut’s most promising acts. - Eric Danton - Hartford Courant


"#1 Connecticut Album of 2011"

It’s incredibly rare for a band to emerge sounding as fully formed as Echo & Drake does on the Wethersfield group’s new self-released debut, “Sundrenched Elsewhere.”…an album full of great songs, from a band that immediately vaults to the top of the heap of Connecticut’s most promising acts. - Eric Danton - Hartford Courant


"Wesleyan University Radio (WESU 88.1 FM)"

“Although this Connecticut band has yet to strike a major label deal, the sound of their independent debut is quite polished... strong arrangements, soaring melodies and intelligent lyrics are sure to appeal to fans of Keane, Morrissey, early U2, Coldplay, Crowded House and Tommy Keene. Clearly a band to look out for” - Rob Farrish


"UConn Radio WHUS 91.7 FM"

"In Brittle Sails (my favorite track) Ericson speaks to 'the thrill of getting nowhere.' But if their debut album is any indication these guys should be in for bigger thrills down the road.” - Pat Doyle


"New Haven Register"

“It's the kind of music that fails easily, but the quartet pulled it off and really kept me interested. Singer Jon Ericson's got a great voice and uses it really well while fronting the very tight band” - Patrick Ferrucci


"Hamden Daily News"

“The guitarist used a series of effects and pedals to create synthesizer sounds that flowed beautifully... I enjoyed their originality and falsetto vocals… they got a great response from the crowd” - Chris Clark


"New Haven Register"

“It's the kind of music that fails easily, but the quartet pulled it off and really kept me interested. Singer Jon Ericson's got a great voice and uses it really well while fronting the very tight band” - Patrick Ferrucci


"TAXI Review"

"I'm really glad to hear this well-written and well-executed performance... great drumming... and the guitar tones ring out like bells" - Independent A&R Company


"Review of Strange Company"

"Jon Ericson can sing and on his band's debut disc he belts them out. The record is a rousing affair, near operatic at times... they won't be strange company for long!" - PLAY New Haven Magazine


"TAXI Review"

"I'm really glad to hear this well-written and well-executed performance... great drumming... and the guitar tones ring out like bells" - Independent A&R Company


Discography

Still working on that hot first release.

Photos

Bio

+ CBS Grammy Live 2013 New England Finalists
+ New England Music Awards 2013 Nominee
+ "#1 Connecticut Album of 2011" ~ The Hartford Courant, (Eric Danton, Rolling Stone contributing editor)
+ "Best Overall Band" ~ 1st Annual Connecticut Music Awards
+ "Grammy Worthy" ~ I Am Entertainment Magazine

Echo & Drake is a critically acclaimed indie/alternative rock band from Hartford, CT, whose debut album, "Sundrenched Elsewhere," was named the "#1 Connecticut Album of 2011" by America's oldest continuously running newspaper, The Hartford Courant (Eric Danton, Rolling Stone contributing editor).

Produced by Juno Award winner (Canadian equivalent of the Grammys) Joseph Donovan, and mixed by Grammy-nominated mastering engineer Jeff Lipton (Arcade Fire, Andrew Bird, Spoon, Bon Iver, Wilco / Jeff Tweedy), their debut album Sundrenched Elsewhere continues to receive widespread praise... "The album has echoes of all the indie rock staples, from The National to, occasionally, Fleet Foxes" (The Yale Herald).

In 2013, the band was nominated for a New England Music Award, took the stage at Boston's Outside the Box festival and Bethlehem, PA's Musikfest, had their single "Morning Dove" played on MTV Japan, and was named 1 out of 7 regional finalists (out of 1,500 artists nationwide) to represent New England in the CBS Grammy Gig of a Lifetime contest.

Echo & Drake has also been invited to play a number of prominent venues and numerous festivals throughout New England (see www.echoanddrake.com/live), including MOVE Music Festival (Albany, NY), Musikfest (Bethlehem, PA), Hartford Riverfest, The Met (Providence), The Middle East (Boston), The Bitter End (NYC), and a headlining slot at Mohegan Sun Casino's Wolf Den.

Their music has been featured in independent films, music blogs and websites, major publications (see www.echoanddrake.com/press), and has received generous airplay on numerous college and mainstream radio stations throughout the United States and abroad.

Record sales and airplay have built steadily throughout the US, UK, Canada, Europe (Germany, Ireland, Scotland), South Africa, Japan, and Australia through major outlets including iTunes, Amazon MP3, Zune, Spotify, Rhapsody. The band garnered 18,000+ followers on Twitter, 1,000,000+ channel views on YouTube, and 5,000+ new Facebook fans in 2012 alone.

In 2013, Echo & Drake began work on two new EPs at one of the best microphone companies in the world, Telefunken Studios, and will be returning to Montreal and Boston to work with Joseph and Jeff on new material to be released in early 2014.

SELECTED PRESS

+ "Local, indie or major label, this is easily one of the best albums of the year" ~Rob Farrish, Wesleyan University Radio, WESU 88.1 FM

+ "[Sundrenched Elsewhere is] a collection of stunningly well-written, and beautifully produced, songs colored by the spacious atmospherics of Brit-pop, but with a personality all their own." ~The Hartford Courant (Eric Danton, Rolling Stone contributing editor)

+ "Im calling it, friends its going to be big Echo & Drake is one of those rare bands a speck of gold in a sea of brass" ~Gabrielle Bruney, The Wesleyan Argus

LIVE 2013

01.31.14 - Boston, MA - Hard Rock Cafe
10.26.13 - Las Vegas, NV - TBA
09.07.13 - New London, CT - IAM Festival
08.09.13 - Bethlehem, PA - Musikfest (Main Street Stage)
07.20.13 - Boston, MA - Outside the Box Festival (Boston Common)
06.15.13 - Hartford, CT - The Great Hall at Union Station
05.30.13 - Bridgeport, CT - Baldwin Park
04.27.13 - Albany, NY - MOVE Music Festival
03.16.13 - Cambridge, MA - The Middle East Downstairs

www.echoanddrake.com

Band Members