Remove Before Flight

Remove Before Flight has already gotten its feet off the ground.

After releasing their self-titled debut album last spring, the band's song "Alive" was featured on UCF TV's SportsKnight and has been played at home football games, as well as several radio stations around the nation.

The Central Florida Future sat down with UCF students Ken Clark, frontman, and Josh Porter, lead guitarist, to talk about their music, their passions and the future of their band.

Central Florida Future: You have two members in the band (Clark and drummer Rob Page) who are both pilots. How does your experience with flying compare to your music?

Ken Clark: [With flying,] you have the freedom to go in any direction you want. Music is an escape, just like flying is an escape. I can leave the earth, and from up in the air things just have a different perspective. When you're in that moment, everything is just there, and it's just a part of you. Wherever you go the music follows, and sometimes the music takes you in a different direction as well. I can be having a crappy day and go home, pick up the guitar and just kinda go into my own little world.

Josh Porter: And then he has a worse day.

C.F.F.: What is your favorite song on your album?

Clark: I would say "Alive." It's an aggressive song, but when you listen to it, it has a positive message about tearing down barriers and living life the way you want to. I think it's just something that we need to hear from time to time.

C.F.F.: "Alive" is the song that UCF Athletics picked up. How did that happen?

Clark: In the spring of 2009, I noticed that at the end of the [UCF TV's] SportsKnight they said you could submit your music to the school. I decided I would go by and hand-deliver it. I got to the video-editing department, and John Kvatek, the director of video services, was in the office. As it turns out, John and I started to hit it off, because he's a fan of barbecue and I'm from Kansas City. We started talking about Kansas City barbecue, and that's how our relationship with UCF Athletics started. Shortly thereafter, ["Alive"] was on one of the episodes.

C.F.F.: "Alive" was later played at a few of the home football games. How did it feel to have one of your songs played in the stadium?

Porter: I think I missed it, actually.

Clark: Yeah, you were in the john. The way I phrased it was, "Oh, I feel like a rock star now." I had hoped it would play, but didn't know for sure.

C.F.F.: What's up next for Remove Before Flight?

Porter: The biggest upcoming complication will be 25 percent of the band being deployed. With part of the band being in Bahrain, it's difficult.

Clark: John [Meshensky, bassist] is in the Navy. He's being deployed for a year. I'm working on a few options for that. There are some bass players from a few other local bands that have said they'll fill in for a few gigs over the year. I think that might be a good opportunity for us — to have some bass players that have always played very well. We'll have the opportunity to basically jam with them.


- Central Florida Future

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - There will be a new tune playing at Bright House Networks Stadium when UCF takes to the field this fall. "Knightmare", a new rock n' roll anthem from Orlando-based music group Remove Before Flight, will be a focal part of the Knights pre-game all season long.

"We are excited to officially unleash `Knightmare' and release it into the hands of Knights everywhere. A lot of hard work has gone into creating this raw and edgy anthem to make sure it truly represents UCF Football," said Ken Clark, lead singer and guitar for Remove Before Flight. "We can only hope the fans embrace `Knightmare' with the same passion they show for our team. The UCF Athletics Video crew has done an incredible job capturing the sights, sounds and emotion of what it is to be a Knight on gameday. We couldn't be happier with the results and are proud to have worked with UCF Athletics on this project."

The video for the song made its debut at the recent UCF Football Countdown To Kickoff Luncheon on Aug. 19. Afterwards, several fans began requesting to see the new video and listen to the song via the Athletics Department's official YouTube page and in comments posted on the UCFSports.com message board.

The video, which is also located within the new Knights All-Access media player at UCFAthletics.com, was filmed during the summer at Bright House Networks Stadium. The "Knightmare" video will appear just prior to the team entering the field, followed by the Knights' traditional crowd-favorite Zombie Nation tune "Kernkraft 400".

UCF Video Services had used a Remove Before Flight song recently, the track "Alive", from their self-titled album. The song appeared in part of the former UCF TV show, UCF SportsKnight. Shortly thereafter, Remove Before Flight lead singer, Ken Clark and Director of Video Services, John Kvatek, began discussing a custom song especially for the football team. After hearing some of the initial music and verses, several student-athletes loved it and the idea of creating a video soon followed. The video shoot occurred over the course of four nights and five different shooting locations at Bright House Networks Stadium and the video was solely produced by UCF Video Services.

Fans can support UCF Athletics by purchasing the song or the ringtone right now at common online services, iTunes and Amazon.com. Links to "Knighmtare" retail outlets can be found via a dedicated page at www.rbfmusic.com/Knightmare.

About Remove Before Flight
The band began rocking Central Florida and the world in the fall of 2006. What started off as a solo acoustic effort by Ken Clark has taken off into one of the more powerful and noteworthy local bands of late.

Since the latest self titled release, "Remove Before Flight" has enjoyed radio airplay on WJRR, Real Rock 101.1 Native Noise, interview and airplay on The Scene with Tattoo Todd, Daytona's WHOG, a featured artist on Sunday Morning Acoustic on WMMO, an interview and live performance on Kansas City's 90.1 KKFI, Matt The Ratt show, along with various other nationwide airplay. The band has also been featured on the front page of the Central Florida Future and several articles in Orlando's Connection Magazine.

The band's latest self titled studio release has been critically acclaimed and received 4 out of 5 stars. In the spring of 2009, RBF entered the airspace of TV as a featured artist for UCF SportsKnight's `Plays of the Week' and `UKnighted'.

"Remove Before Flight" members are Ken Clark: Lead Singer and Guitar, Josh Porter: Lead Guitar, John Meshensky: Bass and Rob Page: Drums.

- UCF Athletics Press Release

Ken Clark is another one I love to watch. He is in a band called Remove Before Flight and they are from Orlando, Fl and Kansas City. I have seen him do acoustic sets and was brought to tears by his song “Beautiful Insecurity” and then laughed at “Meatball”. You can’t go wrong with this band either acoustically or full band. - www.onlyrocknroll.net

4 Star Rating out of 5 Stars
Review by Paul Hennig

Dang! It's good to see all of the relatively new blood coming into our ever-changing scene. One such band is Remove Before Flight, and their self-titled CD shouldn't have much trouble getting these guys in the game. It's eight tracks of sonically competent ear candy for people who like bands like Seven Mary Three - and listening to this entire record won't become 'cumbersome'. With its straight-up rock sound, Remove Before Flight would be right at home on active rock radio if it were to reach the right ears. But then, we all know how that goes. This band does have a good shot at it though, if they play their cards right. Definitely worth checking out. - Connections Magazine - Orlando - Oct 2009