The Ape Invaders

Dave Matthews Band, Green Day, The Ape Invaders. Well, not quite yet, but this is what John Carroll Juniors Harry Miree and Steven Lane hope for one day. These two along with Bobby Wason of Altamont make up The Ape Invaders, or The Apes for short. With Miree on drums, Wason on bass, and Lane on lead guitar and vocals, The Apes have a sound resembling that of Dave Matthews Band, but with their own personal flair. The band has an interesting story. Miree started "jamming" or playing music with former lead guitarist Bradley Reed in January of 2004, and they jammed for about 4 months when Lane came. Now everyone knew that Lane could sing, but he was unsure of himself. Around spring break of 2004, Lane was singing on the beach and a total stranger came up and handed him a five-dollar bill. After this event, he became confident with his singing, and they invited Wason to jam with them, and thus The Apes were born.

The first song that the band wrote together was "Conundrum," and, according to Miree, "Steve wrote everything." At this point in our conversation, Bobby Wason is totally lost and thinks Harry has started to make things up; however, Harry assured me that everything he is saying is incredibly accurate. In fact bandmate Steven Lane referred to him as "A Walking Calendar."

In January of 2005, the band got its first show. "The thing that I remember most about that show was, the countdown," lead singer Lane recalled. "The first song that we played was a Dave Matthews cover 'Don't Drink the Water.'"

Miree then added that "at that point in the band we didn't have many originals, maybe three or four, so we stuck to mainly cover songs. Like "#41" by Dave Matthews," "Ya, I don't think we have never played a show without '#41' on the set list," bass player Wason interjected quickly.

There is one more element to the band that all three of the guys wanted to mention- "The Official Chiller" or you might know him by one of his many alias, Brandon Robb, BRobb (my personal favorite), Martin, Brandon, or simply, Robb. BRobb has been with the band since day one and loves it when they play "#41" because "they seem to do it with so much energy, it is really amazing."

This summer The Apes spent time in the studio recording their album When Worlds Collide. Which is scheduled to be released on October 1st. Feel free to check The Apes out on their website, www.apeinvadersmusic.com.
- The Cavalier

Wednesday, April 11, 2007
NATASHA AMJED
The Hoover High School Key Club joined clubs from other nearby schools to support an extremely successful concert, "Raise the Volume," to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

The schools raised more than $75,000 through their support of the March 30 concert.

While the Hoover Key Club does several community service projects and fundraisers, such as one for Habitat for Humanity, the concert was the largest this year.

Hoover Key Club members began promoting the event and selling tickets months in advance. Performers included Sister Hazel, Moses Mayfield and The Ape Invaders.

Sister Hazel, a well-known alternative/Southern rock group, is known for its support of charity events.

The concert, which was at Sloss Furnace, drew about 4,000 people. Crowds started coming in around 6 p.m., and the concert lasted until 11:00 p.m.

The benefit concert was organized by Laps for CF (cystic fibrosis), a nonprofit organization raising money for cystic fibrosis care clinics in Alabama.

The money will help families with children who have been diagnosed with the disease. Not only is cystic fibrosis a genetic disease that affects the entire body and can lead to lung infections, but it is also the number one genetic killer of children and affects roughly 30,000 people in the United States.

For those reasons, the Key Clubs of Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Homewood, Spain Park, Oak Mountain and Mountain Brook high schools joined in supporting the concert.

"It was a really huge event; it was completely packed, almost like a mosh pit," said Erin Cheng, vice president of the Hoover Key Club. "People started lining up 2½ hours early before the concert. We sold so many T-shirts, and the cool thing was that everything went towards the CF foundation."

Hoover Key Club President Kriti Mishra said "Raise the Volume" was the most successful event with which the club has been associated.

"I would personally like to congratulate Erin Cheng, who completely devoted herself to the cause," Mishra said. "I'm really proud of all the Key Club members for helping out and getting our name out there. We hope to associate ourselves with even more prestigious causes such as Laps for CF." On the Net

CF Foundation: www.lapsforcf.org.

Natasha Amjed is a senior at Hoover High School and writes for the Hoover Voice student newspaper.



© 2007 The Birmingham News
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By Brian Haight
6 March 2006

What do you get when you mix toe-tapping drum beats, complex rhythm, skillful chord playing, and memorable lyrics? Well you get "The Ape Invaders". This band has what it takes to make it big time. They're smooth yet energizing style can keep you interested for hours. Many people may wonder who "The Ape Invaders" are. The Ape Invaders are three high school juniors with outstanding talent, Steven Lane (guitar and vocal), Harry Miree (drums and back up vocals), and Bobby Wason (bass). This makes me wonder how this unbelievable band got started. When asked this question Steven Lane responded "The whole concept of the apes started in the 9th grade, when this group of friends I run around with (Jo Covington, Bradley Reed, Harry Miree, Riley Barnacastle and me) decided that "hey a jam band would be something interesting to get into". So we made a big binder of cover songs that we would want to look into covering. Well the jamming began and later on people had other stuff to do so it was left with me, Bradley, and Harry. Bradley had to leave in the April of 2005." The Ape Invaders is a band that derives from many skillful influences such as Dave Matthews, The Mars Volta, Metallica, etc. To see more about this band check out their website at www.apeinvadersmusic.com.
- St. Bernard School Newspaper