The Fifth Suit

Since their early teenage years, Alec Lehrman, Ryan Lehrman and David Saliterman have been playing music together. Jazzed at the idea of a brother-type band, they first performed as a group in junior high school. "In the beginning, we were really just jamming together and never really got together for practice," Ryan explained. "But after a year, we began performing live and making music as a group."
Now, Alec, Ryan and David together comprise a band dubbed "The 5th Suit." The trio is most inspired by blues and jazz, thus most of their music focuses strongly on instrument precision.
"A lot of people forget that you need to be able to play your instrument before you go into the studio" Alec said. "We want to bring it back to playing our instruments well ... we're all very proficient and skilled."
With Alec on guitar and vocals, Ryan on drums and David on bass, The 5th Suit has covered a number of songs, but by no means are they strictly a cover band. Their original song "Daddy's Little Angel" captures the essence of the sound this band is trying to establish–an integration of music and lyrics that reflects a collaborative effort of all three band members. The layers of percussion and strings, varied tempo and soft vocals put the listener at complete ease. Additionally, like many other 5th Suit tracks, there is a strong focus on the blending of different sounds from different instruments.
Alec defines the style of The 5th Suit as "audio-chocolate," which is a result of what he describes as the band's "raw yet connected sound." "We concentrate on the emotion of the music," he added.
One can easily perceive the influence of other musician in The 5th Suit's music. "Each of us has our own niche of music that we're inspired by," said Ryan. "Music is an outlet for any kind of emotion … we want to express [emotions] in a way that other people understand."
Though The 5th Suit has not released a full-length album yet, they prefer the experience of catering to an audience. "You don't get energy from the basement walls … it's fun to have the audience respond at live shows," Alec said. The 5th Suit are undoubtedly a group that feeds off the audience's attitude, "The more people that are there, the better we sound," David added.
The members of The 5th Suit stress that they want the audience to relate to their music. The lyrics and music of each of their original songs are a group effort, with each member contributing to each song in some shape or form.
"Most of the songs we write solo and bring to set sound much different; it really just reflects how much collaboration we have in our music," said David. "We love that [our music] is molded by everyone's hands," Ryan added.

The idea behind the song "Crazed" is the essence of what The 5th Suit attempts to convey in their music. On this song, Alec sings, "I said hey / all my answers never getting better / but now I'd like to think / the way to change ain't a different name." By writing music about poignant issues that likely affect everyone at some point in life, they achieve the goal of allowing their listeners to enjoy and connect to their music.

The 5th Suit are elated to be performing at the Rathskeller this Thursday. This show will be their first for audiences of all ages, and promises to be a fun time for all who attend. Since The 5th Suit are indeed loud, the good acoustics at the Union should create a congenial atmosphere.

At first listen, one can see the strong passion The 5th Suit has for their music. Looking to release an album in the coming months, they have strong ambitions and, in light of their musical prowess, should be an absolute success. "If people are going to go out, go out and see music," David said. "No matter who you're seeing, you're watching this musician collective of Madison ... people would be happier if they saw more music."

The 5th Suit will be playing at the Rathskeller on Thursday, Sept 30 at 9:30pm. - The Daily Cardinal