Microphonic
Corpus Christi, Texas, United States | SELF
Music
Press
If you've lost faith in the Corpus Christi music scene, well, that means you haven't heard Microphonic. Last Friday, I caught the Corpus Christi indie-rock act a Threads. If I hadn't known they were hometown boys, I would've believed that they were a nationally touring band from Brooklyn or L.A. The band was celebrating the release of their debut EP, Welcome Home, which is now available at Microphonic.bandcamp.com
The opening track "What For?" is the perfect introduction to the band. The song lulls you right into the palm of their hands as vocalist/guitarist and Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi computer science major Robert Benys croons over a soft guitar like a 1950's balladeer closing out your grandparents' prom night. And then, two minutes later, the rest of the band--guitarist Julio Correa, bassist Andrew Benys and drummer Erikh Whitworth--jump in with a 50's and 60's influenced roack-and-roll, with that gritty garage sound of bands like The Strokes, Jet or The Hives. That sound carries on throughout the record.
Like a less-pop Killers and a more-rock Young the Giant, Microphonic might be the most relevant band in Corpus Christi. On stage, the band displayed style and energy that are common in indie-rock acts like the Vaccines or Cold War Kids, who have been occupying the stages at all major music festivals. The band even covered Cold War Kids' "Hang Me Out to Dry" flawlessly. Put Microphonic up against any of those guys and they will hold their own.
Buying the record is only half of the potential power of the band. Catch them live on March 11 at the Tree Top Music Festival at Threads, and see one of the best acts this city has to offer. - Island Waves
Discography
"Welcome Home" EP (2012)
Photos
Bio
Starting in 2008 at a local open mic, Robert Benys (guitar/vocals) and Erikh Whitworth (drums) began as a fun project to kill time from the boring life that comes with living in Corpus Christi. After a short while, Andrew Benys (Bass/Backup Vocals), Robert's brother, joined in to help round out the sound. Within a few months we had written a few decent songs but were lacking that lead guitar aspect to make the music sound full. Julio Correa(Guitar) joined about a month or two later, having played in a band with Andrew. After finding common ground in musical taste(at that time was Garage Rock revival like the Strokes, the White Stripes, the Black Keys, and so on) started to work on writing songs that was similar to their interest. The results were some decent songs but nothing that original. After a year or two, we started to pick up on Folk music like Bob Dylan and the Fleet Foxes and stated to add aspects of that to the songs we were writing. Noticing a happening on a certain sound it was decided we'd write 6 completely new songs to put to an EP, the result of which was the "Welcome Home" EP. The release was met with good response from the local music scene but we weren't finished, we have been working on refining and defining our sound and work up a list of songs enough to cover a good set and put to a very solid album.
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