THEM BONES

2010 MGK OFFICIAL HOUSEBAND IS THEM BONES!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: August 27, 2010

MGK CROWNS NEW OFFICIAL HOUSEBAND – THEM BONES


Bala Cynwyd, PA (August 27, 2010): Classic Rock 102.9 WMGK is proud to announce Them Bones as the winner of the station’s 6th Annual House Band Competition. The WMGK House Band Competition Finals took place on Thursday night August 26th at a jam packed Cavanaugh’s River Deck on Columbus Blvd. Hopwood, Down With Cupid, and All That Matters competed in last night’s event. Them Bones, a 5-piece from Atco, NJ emerged with the highest scores from the expert judges the station assembled. The band consists of Brian Mariano, Chris Smith,Mike Hegeman, Chris Vanzyl, John Carpenter.
In addition to being recognized as the station’s official House Band, Them Bones has won the following: they will serve as the opening act for WMGK’s 2011 Let Freedom Rock Festival in front of 60,000 people, will play various paid station events throughout the year, will receive two days of recording time at Philly Sound Studios and a gift certificate for $1,000 from Sam Ash.

“We are absolutely thrilled that we won. When Debbi Calton announced us as the winner it was almost surreal and the highlight of our time in this band. We would like to thank Hopwood, All That Matters, and Down with Cupid for kicking ass and setting the bar high,” commented drummer Chris Smith.

The band has a knack for using their own musical influence to color the songs on their set list. They play for the love of playing and have only one goal in mind when they take the stage, “have fun”. Their fanbase has continued to grow by leaps and bounds since their first gig together in 2008.
Hundreds of bands sent one-song submissions into the station in July in hopes that they’d be selected as one of the sixteen best. The sixteen bands selected competed in a series of four semi-final events. The winner of each semi-final advanced to the final event held last night at Cavanaugh’s River Deck.

102.9 WMGK-FM is owned by Greater Philadelphia Radio, Inc., a subsidiary of Greater Media, Inc., the parent company of 23 AM and FM radio stations in the Boston, Charlotte, Detroit, New Jersey and Philadelphia markets. Greater Media also owns a group of weekly newspapers in central New Jersey and several telecommunications towers located throughout the United States.
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- WMGK Press Release

Them Bones…Pedal to The Floor Rock and Roll
Nov 9, 2011
By: Krista Doran
Them Bones is a name that may sound very familiar to you. For 4 years now, this band has been rocking bars and clubs in NJ & PA, building up quite a name and following. I spoke with Guitar player, Brian Mariano and asked him why they have had such good success and he told me, “ We are very high energy with no bells and whistles. We don’t wear costumes or give out prizes or anything like that. During a typical show our lead singer, Chris Vanzyl is all over the place getting people jacked up and into it. We just rock out as hard as we can and have a blast doing it!”
Another reason why Them Bones may sound familiar is that they were last year’s winner of the WMGK House Band Competition. Brian told me what a great experience that was for them. They went into it with no real expectations and worked hard on learning new music, just figuring they would see what happens. Brian told me, “We learned about 50 Classic Rock songs in a month to prepare for the first show. It was John Debella’s Halloween Bash at Finnegan’s Wake. It was tough – every one of us was sick. But we pushed through it and the crowd had a blast. The WMGK people were great to us and playing the “Let Freedom Rock” fest was really cool”.
Them Bones definitely has a lot of fans in the area too. We recently set up on online pole on Facebook, asking people to vote for their favorite local bands and these guys had the most votes out of any other local cover band. Playing songs in their own way has certainly given them an edge. Although they are good enough to cover a song note for note, they prefer to put their own spin on things, keeping that high energy going so that things don’t get stale. Brian explained, “For us in the band, every show is really a party. We love to play and watch people dancing and digging the music.
This is a band that just likes to see everyone enjoying themselves. Brian said, “We just want people to have a great time with us. We have no agenda, but to have fun. Just like, ‘Hey, we are having a party, there’s gonna be beer, you guys should come’”
If you would like to go see Them Bones perform live, here are a couple of their upcoming dates: 12/3 – The Taproom Grill in Haddon Township, NJ; 12/9 – Sam’s Bar & Grille in Blackwood, NJ. You can see their full schedule and listen to recordings on their website at http://thembones.webs.com.
Them Bones is: Chris Vanzyl – Vocals; Chris Smith – Drums; Mike Hegeman – Bass;
John Carpenter – Guitar and Brian Mariano – Guitar. The OOT would once again like to congratulate the band on winning our pole, and wish you continued success for years to come! - Out on the Town Magazine