The Tudors

The members of Woodbridge band The Tudors don’t mind if you compare them to Coldplay, but they insist they’ve got a grittier side that sets them apart from the mellow British rockers.
“We’re like Coldplay after five years in prison,” lead singer Frankie Muoio said.
“We kind of have that melodic, rhythmic sound, but at any time we can go into a harder, deeper, big breakdown, so we kind of take the best from both worlds,” added drummer Dave Lucchese.
That harder sound comes through at times on the band’s recently released four-song EP Patience, which is garnering a positive response from fans, according to the band.
“A lot of people like (the EP), especially now that we’re kind of breaking into the scene here in Woodbridge,” Frankie said. “The feedback is really good. It’s not the everyday kind of electronic stuff that’s going around or hip hop that’s prevalent.”
Bassist Daniel Mitri and guitarist Matt Guadagnoli round out the quartet of 19-year-old musicians.
Three of the members – Frankie, Dave and Daniel – began playing together in their early days at Father Bressani Catholic High School.
Matt joined the band in 2009 and that’s when they became The Tudors.
In the early days, they were churning out original tracks, but of the “punky, garage band” variety, Frankie said, but as they matured their sound evolved, too.
“… It’s more emotional, not in the sense that it’s soft, but more in the sense that the listener can really appreciate what we’re trying to get to in the music,” he said.
Still, even back when they were 14 and 15 years old, Dave said, they recognized there was something a little different about their sound.
That continued when Matt came on board.
That process often begins with Frankie offering up lyrics or a melody, which the rest of the band builds on.
“I like to think of us —me, Matt and Dave — as bricks, and Frankie as the mortar to keep us solid,” Daniel said.
The bandmates — all self-professed history buffs — hit on the name for their group during a jam session at Dave’s parents’ house, whose library they converted into a practice room. He owned a book called The Tudor Age, when he saw it he knew he’d found the perfect moniker — the rest of the band agreed.
The band’s name is also reflected their music, Dave said.
“The Tudor age was theatrical from all the controversy and love affairs and political strife. There was just so many sides to the coin and so much transformation in it all that’s kind of what I put into the band as well,” he said. “Our songs are based around emotional and tough times, but there’s really a lot of transformation in e very song that we make. It’s never just one-sided.”

- Adam Martin Robbins

If there’s justice in the world, the likes of Coldplay will be forced into retirement by the tenets of good taste to make way for The Tudors, a band equal to the task of writing compelling alt-rock gems but with a genuine enthusiasm that makes them hard to knock. Moreover, the lead singer has a voice in concert that eclipses Chris Martin’s voice in the studio.-Gavin Crisp (NXNE review)

- Gavin Crisp