Ten56

From Martin comes one of the most talked about bands in this area right now.

Ten56 is one of Martin's newest and truest new rock bands with music playing on three radio stations. Made up of Scottie Somerville, Andrew "Gibby" Williams, Adrian Baker and John Ciniglio, Ten56 already has followers at such a young point in their career. Their followers are UTM students and professors as well as locals from Tequila Joe's in Jackson, where most of their gigs have been. During intermission of their March 9 concert in Jackson, Ten56 discussed their music.

Pacer: What type of music image do you want to avoid?

Ten56: "Anything that is typical, we don't want to be the band that sound's like every other band, we want to sound original." "We have such diversity in our music: just listen to "Into the flames," you have that Jack Johnson and Maroon 5 sound, and then listen to "Follow," its really heavy."

P: How would you describe your music to listeners for the first time?

Ten56: "You'll have to come listen to it."

P: Who are your musical influences?

Ten56: "Anything but Kenny G" "Green Day, 311, Primus, Foo Fighters, Incubus, and Slash [from Guns 'n' Roses]."

P: Is their a set writer for the lyrics, who writes the lyrics?

Ten56: "So far it's been Scottie on lyrics; if some one comes up with a riff we all listen to it and agree on it, because Andrew comes up with some sweet riffs" "And I lay down a fat beat" says Ciniglio.

P: What are your original songs about?

Ten56: "Our first one we recorded was "Into the Flames," it had to do with a lot of family troubles I had and my parents' divorce. It was a way of expressing that, and the song "Follow" it's about a girl who lost a friend that's young and she's talking to someone trying to help her through that."

P: How far do you think this will go?

Ten56: "You can only hope, all we really want is to be full time, we don't want to do jack with our degree." "We plan on doing an east Coast tour, hooking up with some other bands and playing in many states and cities, basically getting to know other crowds and hopefully one day get signed."

P: Following up with that, what does success in your own words mean to you?

Ten56: "Success means not having to get a real job, and for people to like our music. We want people to know our music. We also want people to feel what we feel when we get up and play our music."

P: How did Ten56 form?

Ten56: "I [Adrian] met Gibby a long time ago, and we played in a country band, we were not good, meaning, the band but Gibby and I were. We said we need to start a rock band. We both liked the Muze, so I told Scottie and John who was wanting to start a band for a long time, I have the perfect lead guitarist. So we started jamming and two weeks later our first show was at the Phi Sig house and it was real good we could tell because of the crowd that was there."

After the interview they went inside and played Shinedown's version of "Simple Man" and had the whole bar on their feet. That song got them a standing ovation that night.

For more information on Ten56 feel free to go to www.myspace.com/ten56. - The Pacer: Independent Voice of the University of Tennessee at Martin