Music
The best kept secret in music
Press
This months Best Bet is Skip the Middle Man. With a punchy guitar sound and a strong rhythm section, this Madison area band gets my vote for best in live music. Playing three shows this month at the High Noon and King Club. Checkout their website for more details. smmband.com - Core Weekly
Skip the Middle Man's album was one of the top 10 favorites in 2006 ~ Ricks Cafe ~ Wisconsin's Regional Music News - Rick's Cafe
"Another new band and must-see group is Skip the Middle Man. If you like twin lead guitars and instrumental rock you'll love these guys. Very unassuming, they did not sound at all like what I was expecting. Skillful guitar techniques and blazing solos along with a rock-sold rhythm section made SMM the suprise act on the bill...I suggest seeing these guys soon." ~Rick Tvedt - Rick's Cafe - Wisconsin's Regional Music News - Rick's Cafe
"Skip the Middle Man has been playing around the Madison area for about a year and this is the band's first EP, a seven-song, thirty-minute affair that will leave you wishing it were twice that long. A self-described progressive rock band, SMM are actually a bit more accessible than that sounds. The twin lead guitars of Eric Roob and Nick Stanecki blend together beautifully to produce very melodic tunes in the mold of the best instrumental Wishbone Ash and Djam Karet. They don't have to compensate for a lack of a singer, they simply don't require one.
Skip the Middle Man was recorded by the band in their own facility with cardboard serving as the drum isolation booth. It's a very good-sounding album, though, with fat, juicy guitar tones and a driving rhythm section in bassist Sean Ellis and drummer Andrew Rupnow. Almost everything was recorded live in a single take. Though this authenticity is an excellent indicator of what they sound like in performance, it still underestimates the power and prowess these guys bring to instrumental rock. Originally a four-song project, once the lads got going they added a few new tunes and made a proper EP.
This disc barely left my CD player for several days and it still sounds fresh after endless repeats. Maybe I'm a sucker for great guitar rock but so be it. The standout tune is perhaps "R Cig," a seven-minute rock episode that at first blush seems herky-jerky but builds to a tremendous climax of ferocious lead guitar trades between Roob and Stanecki. "Broken" is also an impressive song, leading off with some E-bowed riffing statement. There is nothing cooler than two guitarists that can properly harmonize with each other, swirling together in the same expressive phrasing, a feat at which Wishbone Ash particularly excelled at. "Fat Mame/Night Ryder" gets a little blues-y and " E Blues" brings in some slide guitar to great effect and its repetitive refrain is glorious.
This EP may not be a perfect recording or performance but I love its warts-and-all approach and the quality and spirit of the songs far outweigh any detriments, which are few and far between anyway. These guys have a killer album in them, and really need our suport at their live shows to help get there. Long live guitar rock."
~Rick Tvedt - Rick's Cafe - Wisconsin's Regional Music News - Rick's Cafe
Skip the Middle Man was nominated "Artist of the Year" in the rock catagory for the Madison Area Music awards. - live event
Discography
Self-titled EP - SKIP THE MIDDLE MAN
released: May 2006
Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered by SMM
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Madison Area Music Awards nominee - Skip the Middle Man band is a four piece instrumental progressive rock band. Skip the Middle Man is comprised of kicken' drums, trick bass and two raging lead guitars. The members of the group met in Madison, WI and have a total of 20, 094 days of music playing experience and counting.
SMM's music is a blend of formidable and versatile drumming, spreading between jazz, classic rock and fusion. The supple smooth bass brings out the low low end of the band's sound. All while performing a brakestand and a manual. Guitar left strays between styles of progressive music, peaking and tweaking the listener with a sort of stun guitar thing. Guitar right adds solid, chunky guitar riffs blended with an esoteric melody structure.
Skip started gigging in Madison on November 12, 2005. They opened a show at the UW union for Know Boundaries, a good friend of the bands. From there they have played all the Madison's major local venues including the King Club, the High Noon Saloon, the Annex, the Klinic, the Mifflin St block party and Milwaukee's Shank Hall. SMM has shared the stage with many artists including: New Monsoon, Mark Croft, the Atomic Blue, Run Side Down, Orange Ladder, Planet of 9, Sunshine for the Blind, Venus over Paris, Sleeping Buddha, Chinese Finger Trap and many more.
In May of 2006 SMM produced a self-titled EP, comprised of seven songs with a total music playing time of approximately thirty-three minutes. The songs on the album are a blend of new and old SMM tunes leaving the listener engaged to the end.
The album started off as a four song demo that they were planning on using to book more gigs in the area. After two nights of recording the drums in a card board isolation booth, the demo was seven songs deep and it was decided to record an EP. The following few weeks the guitars and bass hashed out their parts recording layers of unmistakable rockin' riffs. Very little over-dubbing was done during the album, most songs where recorded with one take, from beginning to end. The album represents the bands true sound, as if they were playing right there in front of you. What you hear on the album is what you would hear and see at one of their live shows. The art work was a culmination of the bands ideas based of a photo of the grand canyon produced by Kaibab Watkins Jr. The EP was recorded, mixed and mastered by SMM in less than a month, using all of their own gear in small house on north side of Madison. Take some time and listen to the impressive sounds of a hard working band.
When they rock together they form Skip the Middle Man.
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