Soul Risin'

For Syracuse band Soul Risin’ making music has never been easy.

“It wasn’t really ever one of those ‘Oh, it’s magic (things),’” said lead vocalist Bryan Weinsztok of the band’s formation in 2006. “It was hard work.”

The hard work came mostly in integrating the members’ musical backgrounds, Weinsztok said.

“I was softer. They were a lot edgier,” said Weinsztok, an original member.

Drummer John Capozzolo didn’t expect the group to last more than a couple months. He, likewise, pointed to the band members’ different ways of formulating music as an obstacle.

“Jeff likes to rail away,” Capozzolo said of guitarist Jeff Pazer.

“I had to step back and listen to things more instead of power through things,” Pazer agreed.

“John is hard on the drums,” Weinsztok added.


THE STORY BEHIND THE SONGS
Lead vocalist Bryan Weinsztok talks about what’s behind his songwriting:

“It could just be a quick memory I could write around. A lot of things come out of past relationships. A lot of them are stream of consciousness. A lot are abstract and can be interpreted.

“‘What the Lord Thinks’ (is) not a religious song at all. I was moving from Florida to be with my current fiancée, and catching a lot of flack for it. Everyone was questioning my decision; my parents. My dad became like that all-knowing figure – the Lord – the person that steers you the right way.”

“Smoke”: “It’s all about vices – drugs, sex, gambling, alcohol.” Merging diverse sounds
It was the addition of Mike D’Ambrosio and his organ that seems to have brought those diverse sounds together, band members said.

“He played this organ soul, and it just lifted the energy to a whole new level,” Capozzolo said.

Even with that movement to a higher level of musicianship, band members’ personality differences always exist just below the music. The music, however, is the driving force for coping with challenges.

“We’re not here to hug it out,” Weinsztok said. “We’re here to make good music. That’s work no matter how you put it.”

Making it work
The struggles have paid off.

Soul Risin’ creates an engaging blend of soul and rock that has the ability to put a sober man into a drunken stupor without a sip of alcohol.

Weinsztok’s gritty vocals, backed by furiously frenetic guitar riffs and pulsating beats, bring listeners into a world where you might find Joe Cocker, Dave Matthews or Bob Seeger tipping back a six-pack on the back of a dusty pick-up truck between jam sessions under a hot August sun.

Weinsztok’s songwriting, which is thoughtful and tells stories — is ripe with metaphors, symbolism and emotion — and drips with just enough heartache, patience and sorrow to drive the most removed lovers back into each other’s arms.

Past the differences
That successful creation of music keeps the band together making the hard work easy to forget.

“It’s hard to explain to someone who’s never been in a band that feeling when you’re in front of a receptive audience and it’s clicking,” Pazer said.

“To a crowd, it should look like it’s easy for us,” Weinsztok said. “That’s why we do so much work on the back end.”

See for yourself
See the culmination of Soul Risin’s hard work at 9 p.m. Friday, May 16, at the Electric Company, 700 Varick St. Admission is $5.

Check them out before you go at www.myspace.com/soulrisin or www.soulrisin.net
Copyright 2008 The Observer-Dispatch. Some rights reserved - By CASSAUNDRA BABER Observer-Dispatch

For Syracuse band Soul Risin’ making music has never been easy.

“It wasn’t really ever one of those ‘Oh, it’s magic (things),’” said lead vocalist Bryan Weinsztok of the band’s formation in 2006. “It was hard work.”

The hard work came mostly in integrating the members’ musical backgrounds, Weinsztok said.

“I was softer. They were a lot edgier,” said Weinsztok, an original member.

Drummer John Capozzolo didn’t expect the group to last more than a couple months. He, likewise, pointed to the band members’ different ways of formulating music as an obstacle.

“Jeff likes to rail away,” Capozzolo said of guitarist Jeff Pazer.

“I had to step back and listen to things more instead of power through things,” Pazer agreed.

“John is hard on the drums,” Weinsztok added.


THE STORY BEHIND THE SONGS
Lead vocalist Bryan Weinsztok talks about what’s behind his songwriting:

“It could just be a quick memory I could write around. A lot of things come out of past relationships. A lot of them are stream of consciousness. A lot are abstract and can be interpreted.

“‘What the Lord Thinks’ (is) not a religious song at all. I was moving from Florida to be with my current fiancée, and catching a lot of flack for it. Everyone was questioning my decision; my parents. My dad became like that all-knowing figure – the Lord – the person that steers you the right way.”

“Smoke”: “It’s all about vices – drugs, sex, gambling, alcohol.” Merging diverse sounds
It was the addition of Mike D’Ambrosio and his organ that seems to have brought those diverse sounds together, band members said.

“He played this organ soul, and it just lifted the energy to a whole new level,” Capozzolo said.

Even with that movement to a higher level of musicianship, band members’ personality differences always exist just below the music. The music, however, is the driving force for coping with challenges.

“We’re not here to hug it out,” Weinsztok said. “We’re here to make good music. That’s work no matter how you put it.”

Making it work
The struggles have paid off.

Soul Risin’ creates an engaging blend of soul and rock that has the ability to put a sober man into a drunken stupor without a sip of alcohol.

Weinsztok’s gritty vocals, backed by furiously frenetic guitar riffs and pulsating beats, bring listeners into a world where you might find Joe Cocker, Dave Matthews or Bob Seeger tipping back a six-pack on the back of a dusty pick-up truck between jam sessions under a hot August sun.

Weinsztok’s songwriting, which is thoughtful and tells stories — is ripe with metaphors, symbolism and emotion — and drips with just enough heartache, patience and sorrow to drive the most removed lovers back into each other’s arms.

Past the differences
That successful creation of music keeps the band together making the hard work easy to forget.

“It’s hard to explain to someone who’s never been in a band that feeling when you’re in front of a receptive audience and it’s clicking,” Pazer said.

“To a crowd, it should look like it’s easy for us,” Weinsztok said. “That’s why we do so much work on the back end.”

See for yourself
See the culmination of Soul Risin’s hard work at 9 p.m. Friday, May 16, at the Electric Company, 700 Varick St. Admission is $5.

Check them out before you go at www.myspace.com/soulrisin or www.soulrisin.net
Copyright 2008 The Observer-Dispatch. Some rights reserved - By CASSAUNDRA BABER Observer-Dispatch

When state fair officials were in a pinch because last August when a family emergency forced Canadian rockers Our Lady Peace to miss its scheduled opening slot for The Fray, Syracuse rock band Soul Risin’ cheerfully — and skillfully — filled the void.
Fans started bummed out at the news.
But lead singer Bryan Weinsztok and mates won them over with a very solid rock set.
I wrote in the next morning’s Post-Standard:
“Once Weinsztok, lead guitarist Jeff Pazer, bassist Adam Fisher, drummer John Capozzolo and keyboard player Tom Witkowski started cooking on Soul Risin’s comfortable stew of southern blues and jamming rock, the applause became more than polite.”
Syracuse fans get the chance to cheer some more at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Soul Risin’ CD release party, at The Westcott Theater, 524 Westcott St., Syracuse.
The party is for their smokin’ hot CD “The Opposite of Goodbye,” a dozen-song gem they released last week.
This time around, the Syracuse band got to invite the special guest, asking Caitlin Krisko and the Broadcast up from New York City.
Tickets are $10 in advance, available at www.thewestcotttheater.com, and $12 at the door. - Mark Bialczak/The Post-Standard

When state fair officials were in a pinch because last August when a family emergency forced Canadian rockers Our Lady Peace to miss its scheduled opening slot for The Fray, Syracuse rock band Soul Risin’ cheerfully — and skillfully — filled the void.
Fans started bummed out at the news.
But lead singer Bryan Weinsztok and mates won them over with a very solid rock set.
I wrote in the next morning’s Post-Standard:
“Once Weinsztok, lead guitarist Jeff Pazer, bassist Adam Fisher, drummer John Capozzolo and keyboard player Tom Witkowski started cooking on Soul Risin’s comfortable stew of southern blues and jamming rock, the applause became more than polite.”
Syracuse fans get the chance to cheer some more at 9 p.m. Saturday at the Soul Risin’ CD release party, at The Westcott Theater, 524 Westcott St., Syracuse.
The party is for their smokin’ hot CD “The Opposite of Goodbye,” a dozen-song gem they released last week.
This time around, the Syracuse band got to invite the special guest, asking Caitlin Krisko and the Broadcast up from New York City.
Tickets are $10 in advance, available at www.thewestcotttheater.com, and $12 at the door. - Mark Bialczak/The Post-Standard

If you’re ready to absorb some kick-ass music, electric local band Soul Risin’ will be holding a CD release party on Saturday, May 22, 8 p.m., at the Westcott Theater, 524 Westcott St., in celebration of their sophomore album, The Opposite of Goodbye. After forming in late 2006, the band has steadily built a devout following with incessant performing around town, culminating in a whirlwind year in 2009.
“We’ve really been hitting our stride over the last year,” said lead singer and acoustic guitarist Bryan Weinsztok, who also added that on occasion he also makes waves on the conch shell. “We had high profile gigs at the VIP party for the Dave Matthews Band show {at Alliance Bank Stadium on Aug. 4, 2009} as well as the Phish VIP show {at the Pirro Convention Center on Nov. 22, 2009}. We also opened for the Marshall Tucker Band at Inner Harbor and our biggest gig of the year was getting the opportunity to open for The Fray at the New York State Fair after Our Lady Peace had to drop out the morning of the show.”
Toward the end of last year, Soul Risin’—which consists of Weinsztok, Jeff Pazer on electric guitar, John Capozzolo and Jim Dunham on drums and percussion, Adam Fisher on bass and Mike D’Ambrosio on organ—decided to take a hiatus of sorts from performing live to focus on the new album. Weinsztok noted they started to record during the winter of 2008, but were left unsatisfied.
“We recorded it and tracked it, but scrapped it,” continued Weinsztok. “Something didn’t click. From there, we took that same engineer {Brett Walts} and brought him into More Sound Studio, Jocko’s studio {in Syracuse} where John Brown’s Body and many other bands have recorded. We recorded two days in October 2009 and then another day or two in early December 2009 and by that time all these songs had been stage-tested and it was get in there and get it done. After that, Jocko mixed the album in February until late March and he really brought out the strength in all these songs. He really is fantastic at what he does.”
Soul Risin’s new album—featuring a dozen songs with all lyrics penned by Weinsztok—soars across the cosmos of musical styles, jumping from funk to bluegrass before circling around the sun and floating in some pop and even a ballad. Weinsztok attributes their diversity to the idiosyncratic influences of the band members, such as his euphonic eclecticism that includes influences such as Phish, Paul Simon and Van Morrison. He mentioned guitarist Pazer is more into the heavy-handed strums of Eric Clapton, The Who and Led Zeppelin, while drummer Capozzolo continues to study jazz percussion while also adding in a skins’ tinge of Frank Zappa and Jeff Beck on the rocker side of things.
“We’re able to bring that all together,” continued Weinsztok. “We were able to stress that more on the new album, and when we get to the stage, it becomes an extended jam atmosphere.”
Soul Risin’ is no stranger to the Westcott Theater stage, having been booked as the opener at the hip music venue over the last few years for popular jam bands including The Brew and U-Melt, but this is the first time they’ll be taking the top billing. Weinsztok said that honor couldn’t have been possible without their host venue, as well as all of the other clubs they’ve been sweating out their chops in over the last three years.
“Ever since the Westcott opened, it’s been a big help for us,” he observed. “Getting on that stage with acts that draw huge crowds and being able to get the kids from Syracuse University has brought us a whole new audience. We play other shows around town and draw 150 to 200 people at places like Shifty’s and we knew if we were selling 60-plus tickets as an opening act {at the Westcott} we could probably do well as a headliner. We’re excited to have that stage set for us and it’ll be nice to relax up there knowing we just don’t have 45 minutes and be able to entertain the crowd like we know we can.”
Caitlin Krisko and the Broadcast, a New York City-based band that fuses soul with folk, opens the show. Advance tickets are $10, and can be purchased by visiting www.thewestcotttheater.com, or by calling 299-8886; tickets at the door are $12. The Opposite of Goodbye can also be purchased at Amazon.com. Visit www.Myspace.com/soulrisin or www.Facebook.com/soulrisin for more information. - Written by Tom Kahley Syracuse New Times

If you’re ready to absorb some kick-ass music, electric local band Soul Risin’ will be holding a CD release party on Saturday, May 22, 8 p.m., at the Westcott Theater, 524 Westcott St., in celebration of their sophomore album, The Opposite of Goodbye. After forming in late 2006, the band has steadily built a devout following with incessant performing around town, culminating in a whirlwind year in 2009.
“We’ve really been hitting our stride over the last year,” said lead singer and acoustic guitarist Bryan Weinsztok, who also added that on occasion he also makes waves on the conch shell. “We had high profile gigs at the VIP party for the Dave Matthews Band show {at Alliance Bank Stadium on Aug. 4, 2009} as well as the Phish VIP show {at the Pirro Convention Center on Nov. 22, 2009}. We also opened for the Marshall Tucker Band at Inner Harbor and our biggest gig of the year was getting the opportunity to open for The Fray at the New York State Fair after Our Lady Peace had to drop out the morning of the show.”
Toward the end of last year, Soul Risin’—which consists of Weinsztok, Jeff Pazer on electric guitar, John Capozzolo and Jim Dunham on drums and percussion, Adam Fisher on bass and Mike D’Ambrosio on organ—decided to take a hiatus of sorts from performing live to focus on the new album. Weinsztok noted they started to record during the winter of 2008, but were left unsatisfied.
“We recorded it and tracked it, but scrapped it,” continued Weinsztok. “Something didn’t click. From there, we took that same engineer {Brett Walts} and brought him into More Sound Studio, Jocko’s studio {in Syracuse} where John Brown’s Body and many other bands have recorded. We recorded two days in October 2009 and then another day or two in early December 2009 and by that time all these songs had been stage-tested and it was get in there and get it done. After that, Jocko mixed the album in February until late March and he really brought out the strength in all these songs. He really is fantastic at what he does.”
Soul Risin’s new album—featuring a dozen songs with all lyrics penned by Weinsztok—soars across the cosmos of musical styles, jumping from funk to bluegrass before circling around the sun and floating in some pop and even a ballad. Weinsztok attributes their diversity to the idiosyncratic influences of the band members, such as his euphonic eclecticism that includes influences such as Phish, Paul Simon and Van Morrison. He mentioned guitarist Pazer is more into the heavy-handed strums of Eric Clapton, The Who and Led Zeppelin, while drummer Capozzolo continues to study jazz percussion while also adding in a skins’ tinge of Frank Zappa and Jeff Beck on the rocker side of things.
“We’re able to bring that all together,” continued Weinsztok. “We were able to stress that more on the new album, and when we get to the stage, it becomes an extended jam atmosphere.”
Soul Risin’ is no stranger to the Westcott Theater stage, having been booked as the opener at the hip music venue over the last few years for popular jam bands including The Brew and U-Melt, but this is the first time they’ll be taking the top billing. Weinsztok said that honor couldn’t have been possible without their host venue, as well as all of the other clubs they’ve been sweating out their chops in over the last three years.
“Ever since the Westcott opened, it’s been a big help for us,” he observed. “Getting on that stage with acts that draw huge crowds and being able to get the kids from Syracuse University has brought us a whole new audience. We play other shows around town and draw 150 to 200 people at places like Shifty’s and we knew if we were selling 60-plus tickets as an opening act {at the Westcott} we could probably do well as a headliner. We’re excited to have that stage set for us and it’ll be nice to relax up there knowing we just don’t have 45 minutes and be able to entertain the crowd like we know we can.”
Caitlin Krisko and the Broadcast, a New York City-based band that fuses soul with folk, opens the show. Advance tickets are $10, and can be purchased by visiting www.thewestcotttheater.com, or by calling 299-8886; tickets at the door are $12. The Opposite of Goodbye can also be purchased at Amazon.com. Visit www.Myspace.com/soulrisin or www.Facebook.com/soulrisin for more information. - Written by Tom Kahley Syracuse New Times