The InFormation

CHARLESTON, WV -- InFormation singer/guitarist Curtis Chittenden couldn't be reached for comment Saturday afternoon at the annual weekend-long Grinfest festival in Lewisburg. He was busy rafting down a two-mile stretch of river.

You can't blame Chittenden for living it up; InFormation, the Belle-area prog-rock trio, played three sets the night before, going into the wee hours of the morning.

With him on the river, it fell to the rhythm section -- bassist Roy Graley and drummer Shane Durham -- to provide some background on the band in advance of their show Friday at The Sound Factory.

Durham explained how he and Chittenden, his good friend from Belle, came together seven years ago to form InFormation.

"I met him in then seventh grade, when he moved here from Mississippi," Durham said. "We've been best friends ever since.

"We just hung out and jammed; Curtis would bring his acoustic guitar and I had an electronic drum machine, and it just formed from there," he said, adding that it was Chittenden who taught him the basics of drumming.

Right now, the band, whose members are barely old enough to drink (if they so choose), rehearse where so many bands do: in the garage (at Durham's parent's house in Dupont City).

The band, influenced by acts ranging from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Cream and Pink Floyd to Maroon 5, has been playing with its current lineup for a few years now, hitting venues from Montgomery to Teays Valley.
InFormation was recently featured for a second time in the latest episode of the Web show "Radio Free Charleston." (See it at blogs.wvgazette.com/popcult). If not for "RFC" host Rudy Panucci, InFormation wouldn't exist in its current formation, according to Durham.

"Rudy introduced Roy to us a few years ago," he said. "You can tell Rudy just loves and respects and supports local music 100 percent. It's rare; it doesn't come very often around here."

Graley seconded that.

"He's great. His support is very much appreciated because his show is going to reach people who might not be likely to come out and see us."

Finding and adding Graley, dubbed a "bass virtuoso" by Panucci in the current "RFC" episode, wasn't just important to have someone to play bass, Durham said; it took InFormation's sound to the next level.

"Just by happening, we found Roy," he said, "and he's the essence of what we needed for the bass."

Joining InFormation was initially a bit of a leap, musically, for Graley.

"At first, I was kind of skeptical; it was a little different than what I was used to doing," he said, "but we got in there and got it going and got the songs together, and it just all came together."

InFormation is working on recording an EP, which they hope to release later this year.

The band's current lineup knows what it's going for musically and why its members are making music, Durham says.

"We've tried different members on guitar and piano, but the creativity and love for the music, if it's not there, it's not going to work," he said. "All three of us have the same kinds of ideas of what we want out of the songs, and it shows. It rubs off."

Durham says that, whatever venue they're playing, the guys in InFormation think they can win over some fans.

"We can impress crowds wherever we play. If the crowd is there, the music always gets their attention, and we've been asked back everywhere we've played," he said. "I think our music can appeal to pretty much any age group. Bars are 21 and up, but we can play for anyone in any age group.

"We all connect pretty well; it's magical onstage. We're at the level we want to be. We can only go farther up."

Reach Nick Harrah at wvrocksc...@gmail.com. - Charleston Gazette