Endo Four

MUSIC NOTES

By Ric Taylor
As a follow–up to their Victory Records release When
Broken Is Easily Fixed, Silverstein have been feverishly
touring to get their music to the kids. They’ve recently
returned from a demanding American tour and spent the
tail end of the summer recuperating but are now set to
return to the stage with a gig this weekend.

“The shows were great but our luck with van troubles and
illnesses weren’t too good,” explains drummer Paul
Koehler. “We’re trying to take a step back and take a look
at all of the touring we’ve done.”

With their recent and very publicized American signing,
Koehler vocalist Shane Told, bassist Bill Hamilton and
guitarists Neil Boshart and Josh Bradford all gave up
academic studies and put all of their efforts into the band
with great effect. If their CD release party at the
Burlington Music Centre is any indication, Silverstein are
already well on their way with their hybrid of emo,
hardcore, punk and metal the soundtrack for their wild
ride.

“We had over a thousand people show up,” the drummer
says of the unexpected, overwhelming turnout. “Kids
were lining up in the rain two hours before the doors
opened. We had to turn some people away but anyone
who had driven an hour or more to get there, we let in
regardless. It was probably the biggest and best show in
Burlington history.”

Silverstein has plans for a slew of back–to–back mini
tours throughout the fall with a planned Northern US
October tour with Haste and As I Lay Dying and then back
through Canada with Rise Against, Most Precious Blood,
Matchbook Romance and a return to Burlington’s The
Music Centre on October 11 but this weekend they hope to
appease some all–agers w ith a date at Home.

Silverstein openers Endo-4 organized the gig and relish
the fact they get a support slot. “The all–ages Hamilton
music scene seems like it’s falling apart with the loss of
some of our favourite bands to play with — Subcity
Adventures, Identity Crisis, Halfway There, and X–Aust,”
explains Endo-4’s Gordie Beckerson. “Putting on a show
seemed like a good way to play with bands that we like
and bigger bands that I think the kids who come out to
these shows will really like. It’s like killing two birds with
one stone we’re helping out our band and improving the
scene.”

Endo-4 formed during the March Break of 2000 when
childhood friends Beckerson, Derek Macdonald, and Ryan
Speziale came together and played drummerless for a
year until Joey Ridos joined.

“We had been friends since we could remember and the
thought of being in a band together was amazing,”
Beckerson recalls. “As soon as Joey joined the band I
made it my goal to get us as many shows around and
outside Hamilton as possible. After our first few shows
we were hooked, it became the defining point in our
lives.”

The group has spent the last three years honing their own
take on punk and hope to showcase their talents more
often while helping others in the process. With their
debut EP Bad Taste At Its Best due out in early January
2004, Beckerson and company hope this show is a grand
start for a fall filled with all ages shows with big name
acts.

“As we got older and more mature so did our songs,” he
notes. “When we started out we were just another pop
punk band. Now when we’re writing songs we throw in so
many different styles due to our influences. Influences
such as Rufio, Travis Barker, The Offspring, The Ataris,
and probably the biggest one at this point is Hamilton’s
own The Reason. We like how they sustain melody while
still keeping an edge.”

Silverstein, The Turn It Ups, The Reason and Endo-4 play
Home Friday September 5 and tickets are available at the
door only for $10.
- View Magaizine - Ric Taylor

A group of friends that first met in grade school would spend
their lifetime emulating popular bands of the day like Green Day,
The Offspring, Blink 182 and Sum 41. Derek Macdonald, Ryan
Speziale, Gordie Beckerson and later Joey Ridos formed Endo 4
nearly seven years ago. Over the years, we tracked their rise in the
all ages scene, their work helping other bands in their community
and the gains that might befit a hard working band. We also
marked some of the pitfalls and some of the devastation that
unfortunately happened as well.
Gordie Beckerson ended up exploring the business of music,
promoting local all ages shows and then temporarily leaving the
band to broaden his own horizons as a roadie for Kiros on that
band’s stint during the Warped Tour of last year.

A sad traffic accident in Alberta claimed the life of 18–year–
old Beckerson last year, shocking many friends, family members
and fans in his hometown, but probably none as much as the
three members waiting for him to return to Endo 4.

The last year of reflection offered a new growth for Endo 4
and while they mourned their horrible loss, they’ve vowed to
continue on, in spite of Beckerson’s absence and in honour of
Beckerson’s inspiration, and this weekend release a new CD/EP as
a result.

“The CD is a perfect representation of where we are now in
our lives,” offers Macdonald. “It is all about experiences we’ve
gone through, be it girlfriends, partying, growing up or Gordie.
“There’s so much we could say about Gordie, but the bottom
line is he was family to all of us: we are an extremely close band,
we always have been,” he continues. “None of us liked the idea of bringing in someone new. The main reason we play music is
because we are doing it with each other and bringing in someone
else who we didn’t have any history with wouldn’t be right.

“When Gordie quit our band, he told us he just needed time to figure out what was going on in his life, and time to deal with what he had been through, so we understood more and more why
he left, but it was always Gordie’s intention to return to the band.
When he was on tour with Kiros, before he died, we all received e–
mails from Gordie saying how excited he was to come back and
start playing shows again, but unfortunately that never happened. And in some way I think we owe it to Gordie to keep on going.”

Recorded at the Music Gym with Luke Marshall and mastered
by Mike Borkosky, the self–titled recording mimics the youthful
rawness and authenticity of the band. It’s harder edged rock yet
melodic with vocals often seemingly breaking in growing pains or
just growing up pain. While pop punk fans might find some of it
straightforward, Macdonald assures it’s a true maturation for the young minded band.

“We try to incorporate a lot of different styles into our
music,” MacDonald notes. “We like some straight up rock, a little
pop punk, some jazzy stuff, maybe even a little disco, who
knows? The one thing we strive for with our music is to write
songs that we would listen to, songs that challenge us and sound
different than what people are used to hearing.
“We tried to make the recording sound diverse. Each song
had different guitar and bass sounds as well as drums and we
really strived to make a CD that was something we could all enjoy
and something we could be proud of and I think we have
definitely achieved it this time.”

With the new recording and their return to the stage this
weekend, Endo 4 began a new chapter, but after what they’ve
been through they seem a little more prepared to achieve their
goals.

“We’ve been practicing our music now for close to a year,”
reasons Macdonald. “We spent all our time just writing and
rehearsing and I think we’re going to kill it. I mean, we played well over 100 shows before, but we’ve never prepared this much.
“We really wanted to get back into the scene as soon as we
could. So when we had five songs that we really liked we decided
to record them. I think the CD is perfect for what we need right
now and it is a great way to get our songs to a mass audience. We
just really want to kick off this new era of Endo 4 with a bang and
give people something they can get into, and something they’ll
enjoy.
“We love Gordie very much and that’s why we still consider
him in our band because honestly he is still very much a part of
our band,” adds Macdonald. “I want nothing more than to honour
Gordie’s memory and achieve the dream he had.”

The Endo 4 CD release party happens Saturday October 14
at The Underground with The Reason’s Adam White, Summer
Hero and The Goodbye Celebration opening. Doors open at 6pm
and $10 gets you in.
- View Magazine - Hamilton, ON