Lives on Layaway

While combining the youthful bombast of punk, the ardent sensibility of power pop, and an umbrage of alternative, Lives on Layaway's music exists to make one thing clear: Real rock and roll is alive. Brought together by an online ad, this group of suburban 20-somethings from Southeastern Wisconsin were not entirely sure what would happen when the first notes were played. What they found was a group of guys who all shared the same musical goal: to make uncompromising rock music on their own terms.

Compiled from previous local groups, the band that would become Lives on Layaway already displayed a winning pedigree, and their ability to mesh their previous styles into a cohesive statement proved successful, even easy. Spearheaded by frontman and rhythm guitarist Jordan Franklin's honest and heartfelt crooning, Lives on Layaway display a sound instantly familiar and timeless, yet in the same breath utterly unique. Backing Franklin is the weaving interplay of the lead guitars, strummed by Zack Lovdahl and Tim Castro. Though stylistically very different in their influences, Lovdahl and Castro come together to create the idiomatic guitar sound that is a hallmark of Lives on Layaway, with equal parts wall-of-sound, delicate dynamics, and effects-driven freak-outs. Rounding out the group's sound is the chest-thumping rumble provided by bassist and engineering mastermind Mark Moyle, and the powerhouse, "take no prisoners" drumming of Joe Barnes, who locks in to lay down the foundation on which Lives on Layaway's music is built.

After numerous pre-production sessions and while continuing to the record their debut EP, Lives on Layaway is ready to take what has been forged in the basement and put it on the stage. The goal is always there to make music that excites everyone in the band first, and then unleash that music to anyone who will listen. Tired of the new scenes and fads, the members of Lives on Layaway realize the time to reawaken real rock music is now. Come along for the ride.