Point08

DK: I am sure you get this all the time, but I have to admit, the name Point08 does make one wonder, where did it come from?

Zac: It was 1962, a surprisingly hot year in the jungles of Borneo. An international group of scientists had been dispatched by NASA due to strange noises emanating from the deep unexplored heart of the wilderness. What they found would rattle the very foundations of everything we thought we knew about life and death and science and stuff. There was a dark cave hidden beneath the jungle canopy. Inside the cave was a single symbol. The symbol was shaped just almost completely unlike a carburetor. I imagine you can take it from there.

Shawn: Well, our old name, Uncle Fister, was costing us gigs. While _we_ may have found the image of a beloved 60's TV icon with his arm buried up the ass of some chick up to the wrist funny, most bar owners didn't. So… point08 was born. Why "point08"? Well, we want people to get right up to the best time they can legally have while seeing us without crossing the line and wrapping their car around a tree on the way home from one of our shows. We don't have enough fans to risk losing any, hence why we're "point08" and not " point2.4".

DK: How long has Point08 been on the scene?

Shawn: I dunno that there's a scene that would claim us (and, if there was, I'd reject it on principle), but we've been an original rock band for about two years. For another two years before that, we were a pretty decent if monumentally lazy hard rock cover band that specialized in 90's one-hit guitar wonders and ZZ Top's first album.

Matt: and Hendrix.

DK: How many gigs have you played so far?

Matt: Over the course of the last four years, probably 30 or so. The last band Phil and I were in got burned out on playing once or twice a week so with point08 we're keeping a steady pace and trying to slowly build up a fan base.

DK: How did you meet one another?

Matt: I met Phil on the Internet doing a musician search off the Guitar Center website in 1998...99, somewhere around there. I've known Zac since grade school and have been playing in bands with him and/or Phil since we met Phil. Shawn was my boss at an ISP I worked for about 9-10 years ago and we've managed to move from outright hating each other to rocking out together.

DK: So, I noticed in your bio that you list Matt and Zac as singers, but Shawn yells. Is that a serious assessment of his vocal style?

Shawn: Matt and Zach have the nice voices; I have 20 years of smoking and whiskey. Do the math.

Zac: Almost nothing we write about ourselves should ever be taken seriously. We decided very early in this band that the only time any of us actually had any fun was when we kept everything in the right perspective. If you allow yourself to take any band, especially any good or bad gig too seriously, you suck all the fun out of it.

DK: What part of the city and burbs do you hail from?

Matt: Zac and I grew up in Villa Park and rolled to the city around 1998. Phil hails from River Forest and a little bit of Lake Zurich. Shawn is south side 4 life.

Phil: Actually, it's River Grove.

DK: How has your EP entitled "Aqua Vitae" been received?

Zac: Very well. Its a pretty good representation of the first maybe six months of our original work. Almost everywhere we've sent it we've received very positive reviews. Any band/artist knows how most of the time sending anything out specifically for criticism is just begging to get the shit kicked out of you, so to get positive feedback was a great start for our first real recording.

Shawn: All 17 people who've heard it agree that it's the best EP produced in the 60629 area code to come out of August, 2005.

Phil: I like Zacko's answer.

DK: Is it getting much airplay on any local radio shows?

Zac: No. We were a little (extremely) lazy in really pushing this EP, and now we're looking into getting back into the studio again.

Matt: No radio, but we did get some decent rankings over at Garageband.Com and Monarchy was voted Hard Rock Track of the Day for December 27, 2005.

Phil: I like Matt's answer.

DK: Where can people get it?

Matt: Online! Go to www.point08.net and download it from the music section. We like to add what may be construed as really bad rehearsal demos up there, too, but that's part of the charm. Personally, I like to hear the rough stuff from a band, because when you see it live, you can't imagine it was the same song that sounded like four drunks molesting a cat in a rehearsal space.

DK: Where did you go to record it and how long did it take you to put it all together?

Matt: Black Pug Studio, viva Chopper!

Zac: It took us a total of about three days over about a month and a half to get it all put together. We had pretty much everything already planned, and made the decision to keep any overdubbing and layering to a minimum to better represent our live sound. All of us have had previous bands that put together a - Chicago Music Guide

* Reached #87 out of 483 in the charts.

* Voted by GarageBand.Com to be the Hard Rock Track of the Day, December 27th, 2005.

* Also received weekly awards for Best Guitars in Hard Rock (26Dec2005).

Signature Review:
Hard Rockin Goodness!
First impression: Your guitar work has a Maiden meets ZZ Top feel. Ain't that neat? This tune is fun and definately rockin. I enjoyed the lyrics at points, I could understand your message which is always a plus. The singer has a good voice for the hard rock genre, it's strong if need be but is not overbearing. Enjoyed the solo over the grooving guitars. Certainly strong guitarwork is present in this tune, you guys should go far on that alone. And I havent even mentioned half of the other positives. Awesome job! - From GarageBand.Com

* Best Guitars in Blues Rock, week of 26Dec2005

* Best Production in Blues Rock, week of 26Dec2005

* Best Beat in Blues Rock, week of 26Dec2005

* Best Mood in Blues Rock, week of 26Dec2005

* Rocking Track in Blues Rock, week of 26Dec2005

* Reached #60 out of 131 in the Blues Rock charts.

Signature Review:
70s Power Rock
The guitar riffs reminded me of a power 70s rock band then "Jimi" began singing and a trip back to the tie-dyed 60s I went.

Good song guys and we are hearing some nice talent. The group meshes well, good voice, harmonies, strong guitar , good bridges. Well done all around. - From GarageBand.Com