The Blue Effect
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The Blue Effect

Franklin, Michigan, United States | SELF

Franklin, Michigan, United States | SELF
Band Rock Adult Contemporary

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This band has not uploaded any videos
This band has not uploaded any videos

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"The Blue Effect @ Mac's Bar 3/19/10"

The Blue Effect took the night by storm. Throughout the band’s performance it showed its skills in a wide range of genres. Opening with The Jackson 5’s smash hit “I Want You Back,” the band had its audience on their feet and grooving to the 1969 beat. The band smoothly transitioned into “After Every Show,” an obvious crowd-pleaser.

The Blue Effect played many of their hits, with surprising additions that aren’t featured on their EP. The song “Not Into Me” was played for an additional minute or two to encompass some freestyle rapping by saxophone player Will Jones and a few additional lines by lead vocalist Drew Machak.

Spectacular covers of Stevie Wonder’s “Superstitious,” the Gorillaz’ “Feel Good Inc.” and Lupe Fiasco’s version of Wallace Collection’s “Day Dream” mixed things up and riled the crowd. A definite crowd-pleaser, these guys were on fire. - Spartan Edge, Nick Bryant


"Introducing The Blue Effect"

With a vision to become a pop band that did not sound like every other pop/rock act out there today, The Blue Effect has honed a retro sound, driven by piano and saxophone, with a distinct 1960’s-influence.
Formed in 2007, the band has created a full length album available on iTunes released under their former record label, Diversion Productions, in Southfield, Michigan. The band has been a featured artist on Break Thru Radio (highlighting top college bands) and their song, “Mother Mary,” was the song of the month in April for an online showcase of Singer/Songwriters. This summer, the band has played high profile shows throughout Michigan such as the Crofoot Ballroom, Pike Room, the Blind Pig, the Modern Exchange, and St. Andrews Hall. July has seen the band touring the Midwest, headlining at the Verve in Indianapolis and co-headlining at the Bottom Lounge in Chicago. They are currently looking for a serious management company to bring them into the regional/national music scene.
Below please find mp3’s of “Whole” from the album, The Blue Effect: Tonight’s Entertainment, and “Apparantly” and “Follow Me” from their self-titled 2008 EP. “Follow Me” is their best produced song, according to Peter. - Painting The Silence Blog, Jen H.


"Learn To Embrace Piano-based melodies with the Blue Effect"

Published on April 01, 2009.
After meeting in high school and playing musical chairs through a couple of different bands, the pop-rock group The Blue Effect is doing everything in its power to start leaving a mark on the music scene with its piano-based melodies and tunes.

Composed of five members, including two MSU students, the band offers some alternative instruments to the standard bass, guitar, drums and vocals setup.

Making up the band is political science and music education freshman Brian Burgoyne (piano and vocal harmonies); psychology freshman Will Jones (saxophone); international business freshman at Lansing Community College Drew Machak (lead vocals); music and engineering freshman at Stanford University Peter Livesey (bass); and Detroit Country Day High School junior Alex Burgoyne (drummer).

The State News What are your inspirations?

Drew Machak We love kind of older rock. The Doors, The Beatles for sure, Donovan, The Zombies.

Brian Burgoyne ’60s- and ’70s-based rock, and then me and Drew, we co-compose the songs and when I’m looking to write a song and I need a more modern pop influence, I’ll start to look toward Ben Folds, because he’s really the only piano-based person of our generation who has pulled off the “no guitars” and actually made a name for himself out there.

But, that being said, we also have more of a retro feel and our influences are based more on the ’60s.

Will Jones John Coltrane, Sammy Rollins. These are the biggest ones for me.

SN Who is an artist you hate and why?

DM Jonas Brothers.

BB We really dislike them, and most of the Disney characters in general — we don’t like them. Miley Cyrus. Just because they don’t really exhibit musical talent or ability, especially nowadays, when trying to get a record deal is so difficult with the declining industry, and you’ve got these people that just, musically speaking, may not be up to where we feel the competition is. That’s a really arrogant way of putting it, but honestly there’s so many better musicians out there. So basically — anyone at Disney is an enemy.

SN What do you love about playing music?

WJ It’s really an escape from everything else. You can really put your heart into it and let the creative juices flow through you. It’s a really nice escape from the hum-drumming, from school and even people. (These things can be) frustrating and life’s pretty hectic, but music gives us a way to get away from it all.

BB Yeah, you just get to escape from anything that is going wrong — or well. And if things are going well, then that’s going to be expressed through your music. So if things are not going well, you’ve got an escape and if things are going well, you get to really show it. I really do think your character comes out when you play. How you’re feeling that day is going to affect your performance because you never perform the same thing twice. You may play the same notes but the way you articulate it is going to be based on a multitude of factors — how you feel that day, are you excited to be here — and along with that, we’re very lucky that we are a close band. So, you’re playing music and creating something that you love to do with some of your best friends, and I think that’s really what’s kept us together these three years.

DM We’ve become a family, really.

WJ Yeah, we are definitely a family.

To hear music from The Blue Effect, check them out on their Web site at myspace.com/theblueeffect5.

You also can download their songs from iTunes, or e-mail them at theblueeffect@gmail.com. - The Lansing Lowdown, State News, by Cole Bertsos


Discography

The Blue Effect (Version Records)-2008
Tonight's Entertainment EP (Version Records)-2009
First Sightings EP (self release)-2009
Wired To Groove (self release)-2011

Songs "Apparently" and "Not Into Me" are on 88.9FM the Impact! (East Lansing) and we have performed the entirety of "The Blue Effect" on 97.1FM Detroit live at the Jazz Cafe with Judy Adams.
"Whole" is on the soundtrack for the indie film, "The Myth of the American Sleepover".

Photos

Bio

Drawing on 60's influence Adult Contemporary jam rock with a saxophone thrown into the mix, the Blue Effect has a sound which is truly independent from the majority of recording artists today. Teaming up with music industry executives Marla Swartz, Marcella Wilson (Matrix Human Services), David Lee, and booking agent Robert Farmer (Rose Robert Agency), the band has had success performing local and regional shows for the past three years. Formed in 2007, the band has a full length album available on iTunes, released under Diversion Productions in Southfield. Their second EP , "First Sightings" has been a major success; downloaded two thousand times since it debuted 4 months ago. Our newest EP, the self released "Wired to Groove" has a distinctive jam sound that can be enjoyed by a wide range of audiences, from college kids blasting it at a house party to adults who enjoy unique music with a good backbeat.
One of our earliest songs “Whole” was selected for the indie film Myth of the American Sleepover. The movie is being released now in multiple countries overseas and will be coming to America this spring, brought here by the legendary IFC.
The band has been a featured artist on Break Thru Radio (highlighting top college bands), and "Not Into Me" was the song of the month in December for a Singer/Songwriter online showcase. The past year TBE has played high profile shows throughout Michigan such as the Crofoot Ballroom and Pike Room, the Blind Pig, the Modern Exchange, and St. Andrews Hall. The band has also made new fans throughout the Midwest, with shows in the heart of Chicago, Terre Haute and Indianapolis. As students at Michigan State University, the band has been offered shows at the Breslin Center in front of over 1,000 people during welcome week activities, as well as winning the MSU battle of the bands for 2 years in a row. Blue Effect has performed in many music festivals, the most notable being Arts, Beats and Eats (2009) and Motown Winterblast (2010), where they also performed on Fox 2 News to advertise the festival.