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College senior Josh Ingram greets the rest of his band, Spitting Images, at their corner booth at Taco Mac with a tired smile on his face. It’s the morning after a draining Halloween show on the Row, (complete with a Soulja Boy cover), which Ingram, who handles bass and vocals, describes as “a big step forward” for one of Emory’s most recognized bands.
Even as the band finds success on campus, it continues to branch out.
“Some of the best opportunities are at frats, but our goal is to gain respect in the local music scene,” Ingram said.
Consisting of Ingram, guitarist and vocalist College senior Robeen Dey, guitarist College senior Alex Lafley and drummer College junior Pat Felder, Spitting Images has no shortage of technical skill.
But Felder says what sets the band apart is having “the four right personalities.”
Ingram agrees. “We looked for a lot of drummers, but what set Pat apart in our minds wasn’t just skill. It was the enthusiasm he brought to the table and how we meshed.”
Spitting Images will re-release their Lost On The Run EP in November and hope to possibly record another EP or a full-length in the near future. Lost On The Run blends in-your-face rock with healthy pop sensibilities to create a style that feels like a combination of Ben Folds Five and the Foo Fighters.
But the shape of things to come could be very different. Although in the past, Ingram and Dey have done most of the writing, the lineup allows for a more democratic approach.
Dey points to a recent rehearsal where the band was able to cull a song out of a warm-up jam. Previously, “we might have just moved on and forgotten about it, ” he says.
Lafley agrees, adding, “With the group approach to writing, I can hear what the other guys are doing and take it in a new and unique direction that they may not have seen.”
Although the band continues to write new material, live performances remain their domain. Anyone at Sol y Luna on Friday or the Chi Phi show on Saturday can attest to the intensity Spitting Images brings to the stage.
Whether up close and personal at a frat party — the upcoming AEPi/ADPi Battle of the Bands, for instance — or at a larger venue like Masquerade, Spitting Images has an ability to galvanize a crowd. Their shows are sweaty, tight and full of motion, and each member of the band pulls out all the stops to make them so.
Onstage, Ingram provides a frantic energy, whereas Dey, who may be the most soft-spoken member of the band, keeps the crowd going with witty quips between songs and unique personal flair.
“I try to gauge how the audience is feeling and hold down the energy,” he says. “The goal is to keep everyone happy.”
Mission accomplished. With a sound that appeals to both pop and hard-rock sensibilities, Spitting Images can look forward to more steps forward — and more victory lunches at Taco Mac in the future.
-Asif Atterwalla - Emory Wheel (www.emorywheel.com)
Discography
Lost On the Run EP (May 8, 2007)
Photos
Bio
With such a diverse city, it is no surprise that Atlanta has become the mecca for a melting pot of creativity. Spitting Images harnesses this creativity and is intent on sending ripples through the fresh waters of Atlanta's music scene. The foursome melds piano driven hooks with crafty guitarmanship to create a lush, authentic sound that demonstrates sincere pop sensibility marked by a refreshing, raw approach to songwriting reminiscent of Ben Folds and The Foo Fighters.
Their do-it-yourself attitude is matched only by their ability to galvanize a live crowd, selling out such Atlanta venues as Masquerade and 10 High with the band’s 2007 release of their Lost On The Run EP. While critics have called their shows “sweaty, tight, and full of motion” Spitting Images has split bills with bands such as Johnny Lives, 1994, Ten Count Fall, and Bangkok Five as well as winning the 2007 Emory University Battle of The Bands. Recent highlights included an unexpected cameo appearance by guitarist Robeen Dey on stage with Robert Randolph as well as live mashups of Soulja Boy’s “Crank That.” This growing momentum naturally led Spitting Images to announce a November 6, 2007 re-release date for Lost On The Run that was met with great success.
After the initial spring release of Lost On The Run, long time collaborators Josh Ingram (Vocals, Bass, Pianos) and Robeen Dey (Guitars, Vocals), added guitarist Alex Lafley and Pat Felder to the final lineup. Ingram notes that “with so many options, it just took time to decide which direction we wanted to go in with this record and who we wanted involved in the final live lineup.”
After heading to Nashville to cut instrumentals, the group enlisted Atlanta producer Jason Andrews (Holiday Parade) of Spotlight Sound to engineer vocals. Finishing up the EP proved to be an arduous but worthwhile task for the group; they ambitiously produced, mixed, and mastered the record in its entirety while still full time students.
Rob admits, "our approach is that you can do all that promotion and pay people for this or that, you can cut records, whatever. All that is great, but at the end of the day all you've got is your music and your fans. So how do you do justice to both? You write good music and play shows. That's all we're trying to do."
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