Seven Under Suicide

Seven Under Suicide will finally have their long-awaited c.d. release party this saturday the alternative rocker have been working,recording, and re-recording material for thier debut...check them out - Enigma

While we’re told not to judge a book by it’s cover, we should also keep in mind not to judge some bands by their name.

With a name like Seven Under Suicide one might think of the worst – visions of “Cookie Monster” vocal styles may dance in your head and a heavy sound. That’s not the case with this quintet from Chattanooga.

Seven Under Suicide play some of the most palatable rock and roll in this area with strong vocals and driving guitar.

According to lead guitarist Marty Manus played with lead singer Dustin Parsons in another project before forming Seven Under Suicide. After a while the first project disbanded after a falling out amongst members and split up.

Manus and another one of his friends formed Seven Under Suicide in the wake of all of this, but without Parson initially. “When we did our first show we didn’t have a singer,” says Manus.

After suffering through numerous bad auditions with wannabe singers the two patched up their differences and began to make music once again. The band also had its fair share of turnover in the early days, something that seems to be common in many local bands. There’s a simple reason for that says Parsons. “Mostly because they’re friends,” the singer says. Sometimes friendship can get in the way when it comes to the business of running a band he says. “If something does happen it ends up taking other members of the band as well because they don’t want to take sides. Then they end up just falling apart form that,” he says.

“You have to not take some stuff to heart like you would in a normal friendship,” says bassist Aimee Fontenot.

Seven Under Suicide state they are serious about their music and their commitment to it. “I’m dead serious,” says Parsons. This commitment is why he says he and Manus have stayed close friends throughout their musical journey.

“I couldn’t get any more serious,” reiterates Manus.

Manus says many of the local bands that they associate with are equally as serious. The guitarist says his observations are based on being in the scene for seven years. “I honestly see a lot of bands I think could possibly get big,” he says. “That’s an opinion, though.”

Having grown up on a diet of Country music most of his life, Manus likes a little bit of heavy metal as well. He calls bands like Alice in Chains and Nirvana as big influences.

Parsons says his voice lends itself well to the style of the music they play which crosses between harder edge rock and early 80s pop. “I have more of an alternative voices,” says Parsons. “I know what I can and cannot sing, so whatever comes out, that’s just the way it sounds.”

Playing in a competitive local music scene, the band says they receive their fair amount of respect. “They accept us and give us our amount of respect, and we do the same for them,” Manus says. “All in all as far as respect goes, I think we’ve earned that – I hope we have.”

While the melody comes firs when the bands write a song, the lyrics come from a very special place. “My heart, of course,” says Parsons. The singer draws from his personal experiences – events, relationships and anything he goes through and tries to relay that through is lyrics. “Whatever is going on just comes out.”

Playing out the band gets a good reaction from the crows. “I look around the room and they’re all getting into it,” says Parsons. The singer says he can look around the room and see people mouthing the words to their songs and if they don’t know the words they’ve bobbing their head along to the music.

“I don’t think in the year-and-a half we’ve been playing out we’ve had a bad negative reaction,” says Manus. “It’s good to see the same people coming to your shows.”

The band released a full-length album in February and are pleased with the reaction as well as the final product. While they enjoy playing live they think the disc captures the energy of the band well. The band has already begun work on preparing more material for their next album.

Plans for the band include continuing writing and playing more shows. “Hopefully one day, somehow, some way at the right place and right time we make it big,” says Parsons.

“We’re going to do what we always do and remain optimistic,” says Manus.

“There are so many bands out there. There’s millions and millions and millions of cities and only a few make it still,” says Parsons. “That’s just the way it goes.” - Dave Weinthal

check it out here
http://ultimateuploads.com/audio/audio/8d7ffb894eb5c114febf041c5aa56687/11-10-06.mp3 - 96.5 The Mountain