EDEN SHARMAINE
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EDEN SHARMAINE

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States | SELF

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States | SELF
Band Rock Punk

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"Eden Sharmaine- Our Fathers"

Genre: Rock

What has 14 hands, seven instruments, and one new album with decidedly progressive rock and punk roots?

Answer: Eden Sharmaine, an Oklahoma City six-piece that dropped “Our Fathers” in early April, a disc that sounds like the rock ’n’ roll offspring of Muse and Lostprophets. The 10-song record lives in the musical world of arcing electric guitars, weighted vocals with painstakingly constructed lyrics, crazy speed shifts and head-banging beats.

For the music enthusiast on the go who can’t listen through an entire album, the opener, “Bonnie and Clyde,” makes for a nice example of the disc as a whole. It starts off easy and traipsing, with steady, acoustic strumming paired with front man Evan Crowley’s low-slung vocals.
The track takes a sudden swing as crackling electric guitars pair up with understated drums to make a run for the end of the song, crashing against Crowley’s vocals. This is the template for much of “Our Fathers,” with subtle variations.

“Dr. Strangelove” has heavy, biting, electric guitar work with a strong punk showing, “Cities” dials things back a bit, into a more indie-flavored tone, and “Sending: Receiving” features a tasty guitar solo.

But it’s not all a mosh-pit paradise. “Smoke and Mirrors” taps into the group’s professed love of blues and more folksy-toned indie rock. The song keeps a simple composition, with guitars dancing a happy little ditty while the drums issue subdued soft-shoe in the background.

In all, the relatively new Eden Sharmaine makes a strong case for itself with the new album and does “Our Fathers” proud. Six of the tracks are available for free download at www.edensharmaine.com. —Blair Waltman - Oklahoma Gazette


"Eden Sharmaine aiming for epic at CD release party"

NORMAN — Eden Sharmaine is a big band and their current line-up represents experience playing in 13 other separate outfits.

“Things weren’t working out in any of the other bands,” Evan Crowley (frontman/guitar) said. “Adam Myrick (bass) and I started writing songs together at his house and we’d play until the cops got called.”

The pair found themselves hankering for more than the typical guitar band instruments and began adding other players. Today Eden Sharmaine also includes Josh Simpson (saxophone), Cassie Neahring (violin, misc.), Drew Housley (guitar); Ryan McGuire (drums) and Jon King (lead guitar/vocals).

“We were thinking about adding cello but couldn’t find anyone who fit the bill,” Crowley said. “But we’re really happy with the way we are now.”

Happiness can be fleeting and part of Eden Sharmaine’s ethos is constant evolution of their sound.

“We’re slowly growing into what we want to be,” Neahring said. “As time goes on we’re going to change and add instruments.”

Eden Sharmaine’s debut record titled “Our Fathers” is a set of compositions that pull together the band’s musical talent and imagination. Indie rock’s greatest sin is songs that all sound the same. Eden Sharmaine has nothing to confess on this count. The tunes are varied in tone and texture from The Spy radio-style adult rock to the twee folk of “Smoke and Mirrors.”

In “Cities” Crowley’s vocals soar over salty percussion and a wealth, sometimes a surfeit of guitar heroics. His lyrics conjure vivid imagery. Interpretation may be a challenge. Sample from “Nightmares”:

“Your loose lips are the problem/ you go around like a heated disease/ and every zombie body you’re infecting/ you render nightmares of all my dreams.”

I thought it was about a really evil woman but in fact I learned it’s an indictment of various forms of leadership.

Eden Sharmaine is hosting a release party for the first album Saturday at the Conservatory in Oklahoma City. Pretty Black Chains, For the Atlantic and Algebra also will perform.

“A jazz trio called The Muscle, The Looks and The Beard will be doing the pre-show,” Neahring said. “In between bands, indie hip hop artist Dan Hahn will be MC-ing and he’s bringing along a DJ.”

Comedy podcast maniacs Curb Checked Enthusiasm will bang about unchecked throughout the evening.

“The word ‘epic’ comes up a lot in our planning,” Neahring said. “I think we have the entertainment factor covered in that regard for this show.” - Norman Transcript


"Combining members of a dozen local projects, Oklahoma City’s Eden Sharmaine drops its debut album"

Eden Sharmaine with Pretty Black Chains, For the Atlantic and more
8 p.m. Saturday
the Conservatory
8911 N. Western
www.conservatoryokc.com
879-9778
$7

Anything goes for Eden Sharmaine. The band soaks in the diverse stylings of practically every musical genre: rock, folk, pop, even the “raw, rocking music” of Charlie Parker, and churns out a sound that’s completely new.

With more than a dozen previous projects among the act’s six members, it’s easy to see how creating a uniform sound would be somewhat tricky, but that’s just how the Oklahoma City group likes it.

“We all have so many different takes in our music, but we can pull it in a general direction for a single idea or song,” said lead guitarist and vocalist Jon King. “That’s the greatest part of this band: that no design or conception gets thrown away.”

Formed from a mash-up of side projects through bassist Adam Myrick, Eden Sharmaine initially focused on reworking songs that each member had been writing separately.

“Things started to take an interesting turn when we decided to add Josh (Simpson) on saxophone and Cassie (Neahring) on violin. It seems like things just fell together for us to create what we have now,” said frontman and guitarist Evan Crowley.

The group had a big break in August when it won the University of Central Oklahoma’s 2009 Battle of the Bands. The members were so shocked by their win, they were unable to get out of their chairs and had to be called up to the stage a second time. A second opportunity came in December’s Jingle Jam, opening for chart-topping crunkcore duo 3OH!3.

“That kind of gig is my favorite,” Simpson said. “Playing with bands that just got signed really encourages us and our music.”

Because Eden Sharmaine is self-managed, gearing up for Saturday’s album release show has been nothing short of a full-time affair. The 10 tracks on “Our Fathers,” while diverse in approach and style, cohesively intermingle. Like the band itself, the driving factor behind the work is generally unique for each member.

“For me, most of the song lyrics are about where we are in society and how we got here, literally through our past and our fathers,” Neahring said. “There’s an underlying message of taking control, of change and of recognizing these issues as a generation and doing something about it.”

Six songs are downloadable free on www.edensharmaine.com. The album will be sold for $5 at Saturday’s concert, which the band members said will be nothing less than “an epic spectacle that no one will ever forget.”

“We put so much effort and heart into our shows because we’re focused on leaving a lasting impression on the audience,” Crowley said. “Concertgoers can expect lively energy, interesting stage props and art, and unexpected theatrical additions to the music they’ve come to enjoy.” - Oklahoma Gazette


"Eden Sharmaine"

one of the members in Oklahoma City’s latest band Eden Sharmaine are master chefs, but they all can certainly blend. This eclectic group of seven takes punk, indie, and experimental music influences, drops them in a blender and hits frappe. With a growing presence in the OKC music scene, winning band battles, a new album dropping April 10th at the Conservatory and a drive to make good music, this group is offering up an audible smoothie of awesomeness.


AB: First off, how and when did you guys get started?

Evan Crowley: Ryan [McGuire], Adam [Myrick], and Jon [King] were writing songs together and interestingly enough, Adam and I were also writing songs together. We all decided that we should start a band together based on the songs that we were writing separately. Things took an interesting turn when we decided to add more members to achieve our sound by first adding Josh [Simpson] on sax then later Cassie [Neahring] on violin. We have all been friends for a very long time but somehow it seems like things just fell together for us to create what the band is now.


AB: Quite a few of you guys played in other bands before this one. How have those former experiences shaped this band?

Adam Myrick: Well, just with the whole experience in general. The first time you play a show you get so nervous and start freaking out about every little thing. After a few years you just don’t care anymore about anything besides having fun with it, hanging out with your friends, and meeting really cool people at shows.

EC: In my opinion, I’ve learned how to take criticism without letting it bring me down. I’ve also learned how to work with many different types of musicians. I’ve also have learned a lot about myself. This is the music that I’ve always wanted to play so it’s basically the same for me personally. The same underlying thought has always been there.

Josh Simpson: There is different instrumentation and each of us brings influences to the table that might not have been fully expressed in past bands.


AB: Who and what influences your sound?

JS: Charlie Parker. Raw music with crazy time signatures.

Ryan McGuire: Drummers that influence: Jacob Marshall, Rusty Fuller.

Cassie Neahring: Bands the inspire me musically: devotcha, camera obscura, cursive, fanfarlo, gogol bordello, los campensinos!, murder by death. Bands that inspire me personally: jimmy eat world, hanson, minus the bear, the raconteurs, third eye blind, wallflowers.

AM: Nofx, relient k, and my friends Josh, Jeff, and my bro Nick.

EC: smashing pumpkins, at the drive in, many of the bands i’ve seen live. Mostly bands that stand out because they stay true to their sound without compromising because of current trends.


AB: Evan Crowley does a lot of the writing. Tell us about your writing process and what you try to get across with your songwriting. I understand you pull from traditional punk philosophies. What about punk inspires you?

AM: Well, Evan writes most of the lyrics. As far as the music we all collaborate to write. I love the stripped down, raw energy of punk. It is never over produced and fake.

EC: The band writes everything in a collective effort. I write many of the lyrics, but the process isn’t anything based on one person. The songs sort of come together in a collective effort. We write at our practices and everyone is included in that process.


AB: I understand you guys make some of your instruments, like a rainstick?

CN: Yeah! There were some songs/parts of songs that I violin didn’t seem to work with so I decided to figure out some other instruments that would add to those parts. I made a rainstick and some shakers (I also bought a glockenspiel). I have a list of ideas for more homemade instruments and it’s my dream to soon have my own little workshop of awesomeness on stage!



AB: Are there any local bands that inspire you guys?

CN: Yes! All of them! We love the local music scene- all of the bands we have played with and have yet to play a show with. We respect anyone who is playing music and doing what they love regardless of the style.

RM: There are so many good local bands in this area, it’s hard not to find bits of pieces of inspiration/influence in all of them.


AB: How has the local music community been treating you?

EC: The music community is amazing here in a sense that everyone knows everyone. There is always a helping hand if you’re willing to look for it.

Jon King: The music community seems to be very accepting of something that’s far fetched. Our music is kinda “weird” cause we just pretty much go whatever direction the song takes and keep in the line up of our songs. No song sets the tone of the band.


AB: A couple of your singles have been played on The Spy FM, and you have a few on myspace. How have they helped get the band out there?

AM: Really myspace and facebook are the way to go for promotion now.

CN: We recognize how important the internet is in promo now a days. We have myspace, twitter, sonicbids, youtube, flickr, ustream, and vimeo accounts that we use for online marketing. Edensharmaine.com will be up soon (it’s where people will be able to download 6 of our songs for FREE at the time of our show (8pm on 4.10.10!)) We use these as tools but word of mouth from the band and our friends and putting on great shows is what really matters… and soon having a full length album out! Since we have trouble explaining what we ‘are’ we just encourage people to come check out a show- it’s where we love to be. The Spy has been great with us. We will be doing an interview with them on Apr 8th during the OK Rock Show and we just love the music and the station’s support of local businesses, art, and music.



AB: What was it like winning the UCO Battle of the Bands in 2009?

RM: I think everyone was surprised because there were so many good bands that played that night.

AM: I don’t really think winning really proves anything. All the bands were just as good if not better than we were. Music really should not be judged.

EC: Surreal, we really thought that it was some sort of joke at first. I looked at Jon after they called our name and said “seriously?” There were a lot of really amazing acts that performed that night, we were just lucky to even be a part of it.

JK: Unexpected because of the overall chaos that we present on and off stage. We had no idea that we were going to win. Great feeling of accomplish in our eyes.


AB: So your first album is all but wrapped up and ready to be released. What was it like cutting an album, and cutting an album independently?

JK: The recording process has taken us about 3 months to complete. I would say it has been a great learning process and more than anything. We have defined our songs more, added elements to really develop what we want out them and just become more in touch with our own material and its purpose. Evan and I do all our own recordings wherever we can find the space to make the magic happen. We’ve been really working on our craft as engineers and producers and love the industry. Our band decided to record it with us because, I think, of the love for music, the individualism that really comes from project studio recordings. And it’s free is probably the biggest part of that, haha. We love recording and writing so we just took it under our wings as a band to push out our first record.


AB: Tell us a little about your songs, particularly Dr. Strangelove, which is on the album.

EC: Dr. Strangelove is written about a deranged “fictional” character although the Dr. Strangelove in the song doesn’t depict the actual character in the movie, it stays a little closer to the irony of a person with that name. In the movie a person with ridiculous amounts of resources and responsibilities in a military position makes quick and unjustified decisions that have extremely real consequences. The song talks about a person in this position that is kind of sitting behind a metaphorical instrument playing the keys or whatever and with each stroke things are happening, irreversible things that take on a double meaning. A world gone sick begins to accept the things that are happening, throughout the song it explains a situation and begins to question why people are blindly going along with what is happening.


AB: Finally, what message overall do you guys try to express with your music?

EC: Do what you love and don’t let anyone’s criticism keep you from doing what you do. - ArtBeat


"Eden Sharmaine"

Independent progressive rock band, Eden Sharmaine, is constantly experimenting. First they added a saxophone, then a violin. Now, they’re blending metal breakdowns into folk songs and tinkering with other genres in unexpected ways.

Something must be working, because on December 14th, exactly one year after their first concert at a tiny Oklahoma City venue, Eden Sharmaine opened for national electro rock band 3OH!3 at the Coca-Cola Bricktown Events Center.

“We put a lot of soul into the music we play,” singer and guitarist Evan Crowley says. “I think our ability to stay true to our initial feelings about our music has really helped us make an impact on audiences and anyone who is willing to listen to what we have to say.” Crowley has been playing locally since he was 15 years old.

“Most of our lyrics come from personal observations,” Crowley says. “This is the greatest time ever to be alive. Interesting things are happening with our economy and our nation and in my life and all of those things piece together a very broad variety of themes that go into our songs.”

Eden Sharmaine is comprised of many seasoned local musicians. Crowley; drummer, Ryan McGuire; bassist, Adam Myrick; guitarist and singer, Jonathan King and saxophonist Josh Simpson have a string of memorable and influential bands to their credit. However, the experience is fresh for violinist Cassie Neahring, who spent years on the opposite side of the curtain.

While a UCO student, Neahring planned concerts for the university, then she interned at a booking agency for a year, where it was her job to organize concerts for the same venues at which she now plays.

“It’s different, but exciting, to be on the other side, performing,” Neahring says. “Putting the shows on is exciting, too, but it’s a very different thing to be able to be onstage and perform things we’ve worked so hard on.” Although she has orchestral experience, Eden Sharmaine is Neahring’s first rock band.

Eden Sharmaine earned the right to open for 3OH!3 by winning the highly-competitive UCO Battle of the Bands in August. The win came as a welcome surprise to the band.

“They called our name and we were just like, ‘What? You know that there are other bands playing and you picked us?’” Simpson says. “They had to call us twice, and we were just sitting there looking at each other like, ‘Is this for real?’”

Simpson, a former UCO student, has been playing saxophone for seven years. He also played guitar in punk bands before joining Eden Sharmaine, and he never expected to see the level of success they’ve enjoyed. “I never thought that we’d get that far at all, playing a big venue like that, opening for national bands,” he says.

“I think that if you completely just do what you like, things kind of just fall into place,” King says. He is a UCO student and has been playing guitar for 10 years. “Eden Sharmaine has a unique, completely thrown-together style of music. It’s big band, hardcore, rock, pop, folk and more.”

Eden Sharmaine was born out of jam sessions in Myrick’s Edmond living room. As new members were added, the band slowly became the eclectic six-piece it is today.

“We all do it for fun, to get a chance to rock out once in awhile,” Myrick says.

The band was also picked to share the stage with beloved local acts The Uglysuit and The Non at Opening Night, downtown Oklahoma City’s New Year celebration.

“Any show we play, we want to have a lot of fun. I think people can see it when they watch us. We love playing music,” McGuire says. “We write songs that we think are going to be fun to play. We take what we like and put it all together. We don’t stick to just one sound.”

Eden Sharmaine have recorded three songs and plans to release them on a disc soon, and then release a full CD by summer. In the meantime, the goal is to keep booking shows. “We hope to play with a lot of the local and regional bands that we like, and just make music and share it with as many people as possible,” Neahring says.

“For now, I hope that we can continue what we’ve been doing, which is writing songs we feel happy with and songs that maybe make people think about some things,” Crowley says.

For more information about Eden Sharmaine, check out www.myspace.com/edensharmaine. - Edmond Outlook


Discography

1. Eden Sharmaine Winter EP
2. Our Fathers (full length)

Singles: Cities and Nightmares. Being played on 105.3 The Spy.
Full album is streaming for free on myspace.com/edensharmaine

Photos

Bio

Many things can be said about Eden Sharmaine’s performance, music, and lineup but one word holds true to every element of their group; that word is unforgettable.

Hailing from Oklahoma City, Eden Sharmaine is Evan Crowley, frontman and guitar; Jon King, lead guitar; Ryan McGuire, drums; and Josh Simpson, sax. It is the product of several Oklahoma Native acts including Vannadine, The Taking State, Up From Under and national recording artist Subseven. Eden Sharmaine draws influence from indie, blues, punk and experimental music creating a style that is uniquely their own. They successfully released their debut album, Our Fathers, which is an extremely vivid painting of the current state of society in America. With songs like Sending: Receiving, Eden Sharmaine exploits the day to day difficulties of modern day Americans working just to stay alive.

While the deeply committed to traditional punk rock lyrics, lead singer Evan Crowley still adds a personal feel to many of the lyrics throughout their songs. Although Crowley does a majority of the lyrical work, the band maintains an autonomously democratic approach to songwriting and most members have classical or technical music training. Every member of the band contributes to the process of writing songs. Eden Sharmaine also records and produces all of their own material, accentuating their ability to personally shape their sound. In booking shows to support the release they have packed out local clubs such as the Conservatory, VZD's, Coca Cola Center, Bricktown Live, Cox Center, and Edmond Jazz Lab.

Eden Sharmaine maintains a great effort to leave long lasting impressions on their concert goers. A large portion of their on stage presence has been developed to tell their story. Fans and other concert goers can expect lively energy and unexpected theatrical additions to the music that they have come to enjoy.

Eden Sharmaine plans to continue bringing their story to audiences, recording, and logging hours in front of music enthusiasts everywhere for years to come.