Leaving Araby

The impressive progression from debut EP Slightly South of Scene to the recent @&/or shows how
high the potential is for the Athens, Ga., modern rock quartet known as Leaving Araby. The band
members enlisted producer Barry Blair (Audio Adrenaline) for their latest, and the results are tighter
anthems and soaring choruses. The band has recently shared the stage with Kids in the Way, Fireflight
and High Flight Society and will book dates through fall. - CCM Magazine, October 2007

Athens-based band Leaving Araby, whose song “God and Politics Part III” maintained the top spot
for several days on Network U’s “Battle of the Buzz” earlier this year, has found itself in the middle
of another battle.
The band - including guitarist/vocalist Justin Reynolds, guitarist Derek Amos, bassist Nate Haddon
and drummer Zack Neal - is now competing in the BoDog Battle of the Bands, with the winner
receiving a $1 million recording contract. As part of the contest, Leaving Araby had to create a Web
site through BoDog site battle.bodoglife.net/bandsandmusic/176379/Leaving%20Araby/ and gain
enough fans to be invited to compete.
After finishing Round One, held at Vinyl in Atlanta, in third place, the band advances to Round Two,
which will again be held Saturday at Vinyl as well.
Groups are judged on their ability to draw a crowd, and have been given 100 tickets to sell at $10
each.
If successful in the second round, Leaving Araby will move on to Round Three, which will be held at
The Loft, and Round Four, which will be held at The Tabernacle.
The Round Four winner will then compete with nine other bands on a reality TV show on the Fuse
Network.
Now working on the follow-up to its second album “@%/or,” Leaving Araby is scheduled to perform
at a showcase Jan. 12 at The Loft.
Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. To purchase tickets for the shows at Vinyl or The
Loft, e-mail the band at info@leavingaraby.com.
- Chris J. Starrs, Correspondent - Athens Banner-Herald, Sunday, December 9, 2007

The Athens-and-Atlanta-based rock band Leaving Araby has recently enjoyed a nice run on RadioU,
a network of five radio stations in Indiana, California and Ohio that is also heard worldwide on satellite
radio and at www.radiou.com.
RadioU hosts a daily “Battle of the Buzz,” where two bands compete for listener votes to the right
to fight on another day. Leaving Araby’s single “God and Politics Pt III,” maintained the top spot for
several days the past week. Bands that receive consistent support have the opportunity to be placed
on RadioU’s playlist.
The band - vocalist Chad McIlvenna, guitarist/vocalist Justin Reynolds, bassist Derek Amos, and drummer
Zack Neal - recently released its second album, “@& / or,” and “God and Politics Pt III” will
officially be released as a single on Friday.
For more on Leaving Araby, visit www.myspace.com/ leavingaraby.
- Chris Starrs, correspondent - Athens Banner-Herald, February 24, 2007

Leaving Araby has a
new album called “@ &/
or” and you can check
out four songs up.
Impressive independent
release for sure. Hopefully
you’ll be hearing
more about them here
soon. - Indievisionmusic.com, April 10, 2007

I featured this band back in 2007 on our website when their old album was out. They are called Leaving Araby, and they have come a long way from that release. Their new album “Stasis” is out now on Itunes. Check them out on myspace here. - Indievisionmusic.com, January 5th, 2009

...Taking the stage after them were some Athens kids (represent!) calling themselves Leaving Araby. The fliers all over campus had been comparing them to The Fray for a couple weeks so I wasn’t super excited, but upon hearing them, I don’t quite agree with the signage. I agree that they were a little soft around the edges and had a chill vibe at times, but live they weren’t piano driven. Or boring. Nothing against our friends in The Fray, there’s just only so many contrived, twinkly melodies I want on one album.

They were pleasantly danceable – so I did – and their singer had some lovely flaily guitar moves that immediately won my heart. So cheers to Leaving Araby, they were personable and looked like they actually wanted to be playing to a room of college kids who needed something to do before the house parties started – a feat that many wouldn’t be able to pull off...

Posted by Katie on February 12, 2010 - http://indiosyncracy.blogspot.com/

As stocks plummet and unemployment rates skyrocket,
most big businesses across America have only just begun
to suffer the effects of the economic recession � but in
the case of the music industry, this situation is old news.
�The music business has been tanking for quite a while,�
says Bruce Burch, director of the University of Georgia�s
Music Business Program. �In fact, the music business has
already adjusted to the recession because we�ve had to in
the last five years.�
For the better part of the past decade, Burch and other
veterans of the music industry have watched the almighty
download supplant the former economic model of selling
records to make money. As a result, musicians have had to
completely reformulate their models for success.
�Musicians have to diversify,� says Justin Reynolds, a
university alumnus with a major in classical guitar who
also sings and plays guitar in the local group Leaving Araby.
�It�s been like that for a while, but it�s more important now
than it was, say, five years ago.�
Reynolds helps make ends meet by teaching guitar
lessons and working as a session musician.
While the current state of the economy isn�t exactly
helping the music industry, nationwide trends signal
that the time for smaller artists to flourish has never
been better.
�More local and regional acts are coming back,� Burch
says. �People in the music business have adjusted their
expectations of record sales, and they�re rebuilding it on a one-fan-at-a-time basis from the ground up.�
�Locally, at least in Athens, students are a pretty
constant source of spending,� says Jeffrey Netter,
professor of finance at the university�s Terry College
of Business amd adjunct professor of law. �Music
isn�t the sort of thing that takes huge, long-term
investment, so I think, on a consumer front and an
investment front, it�s relatively more insulated than
many markets.�
In the past few months, local venue The Melting
Point has accordingly focused its sights on bands that
charge no more than $35 per ticket.
�With the [negative] economic forecast, we�ve had
to scale back and put more emphasis on booking
local and regional acts that don�t have a huge ticket
price,� explains Troy Aubrey, the talent buyer at The
Melting Point.
Aubrey says the formula has worked so far, with
high sales and attendance in November, December,
and January. �So we�re excited that we were able to
plan accordingly and work with what we think people
can afford, because we know that it�s tight right now
for a lot of people.�
The venue�s new approach to booking isn�t
isolated, and Burch reinforces it as a chief way to
succeed in the business.
�People are being really careful with their dollar,�
he says. �So on a national level, just because you�re
Bruce Springsteen or U2 doesn�t mean you�re going
to sell a million albums the first week out.�
Netter echoes Burch�s sentiment. �Nationally, the
one big thing I would expect is less spending on the
big, huge things, like big concert tours,� he said.
Burch pointed to the renewed importance of live
music as a key factor in the survival of small-scale
bands and artists.
�Most artists have always made their money on live
shows anyway�it�s just now that�s probably one of
the only ways you�re going to make money,� he says.
Local music promotions companies can attest
to the collective desire for bands to hit the road to
generate buzz. �I�ve had a lot of bands tell me they
don�t care about having a label,� says Candice Jones,
a publicist for independent public relations firm Team
Clermont. �They are concerned with touring and
music licensing and getting their name out there,
because that�s how they�re going to make money.�
-John Barrett - Athens Magazine

It seems that Auburn has been receiving its fair share of troubadours from the musical Mecca of Athens, Ga., as of late. The latest to stop through town is Leaving Araby, a polished little indie rock group who have been generating some hype by sharing the stage with some real up-and-comers.

The band formed in 2005 after frontman/ vocalist Justin Reynolds and a friend got together following the demise of their previous bands. The two collaborated on a tune, “Armistice is a Dirty Word,” which would later be released on their 2006 EP, “Slightly South of Scene.”

Recently, the group released their new EP, “As Long As The Devil Is After You,” which is available through iTunes as well as Napster and Rhapsody. The title of the EP comes from a sign outside a church that read “As long as the devil is after you he has not caught you,” an attitude that runs throughout a record that was based largely on the apathetic feelings of a generation that came of age during what some are now labeling “the Lost Decade,” that is, the early 2000’s.
The tunes on the new EP are darker than the group’s previous material, but the virtuosity and melody haven’t been compromised.

But Leaving Araby do not take themselves entirely serious - with all of this talk of seemingly melodramatic subject matter, it is refreshing to hear the group describe their sound as “a well tempered blender containing gooey musical goodness!”

Leaving Araby will be performing at The Independent on June 11 with fellow Athens rockers, Romanenko. Check out their website at leavingaraby.com for more info and to hear tracks from their new EP. - Andrew R. Jones For The Corner News