The New Loud

We weren't born affluent. We weren't born cool. And aside from Radish Beat's natural inclination to keep rhythms at an early age, none of us were even born musicians, nor did we come from musical families with 'natural talent'. Everything The New Loud has done has been born of hard work and necessity, and ultimately assimilated into vision. Acting on instinct - we're attacking first and asking questions later. Sometimes it works out for us and sometimes it doesn't, but we persevere and all our impulses find their way to action no matter how hung up, hamstrung or hindered we get.

We are bastardizing genres - pulling from personal influences as diverse as Joy Division, Black Uhuru, Weezer, New Order, Prince and Gang of Four. The New Loud stretches the mold of the traditional punk band by incorporating dance music rhythms and electronic elements such as keyboards, sequences and synth drums, all while retaining the essence of the protopunk archetype – raw energy, manic tempos and immediate lyrics.

Milwaukee, WI 2001: After being in several bands which hit dead ends, Radish Beat and I decided to form The New Loud - originally a hooky, wall-of-sound, 2 guitar/bass/drums power-pop band. As I had never been the primary songwriter before, this time period served as the teeth-cutting years while I developed my writing ability and took vocal lessons to learn to properly sing. Milwaukee is the perfect arena for salad days such as these in that it is big enough to get decent crowd feedback, but small enough to be able to test the waters and go benignly unnoticed if any ideas turn out unsound.

About 3 years into The New Loud's existence we were making headway and started booking some out of town shows. It always seems that during a period of growth for a band there is always a heightened state of instability or volatility. This held especially true for us during this time and while we were able to get through a mini tour and a performance at Milwaukee's Summerfest, two main members would end up quitting soon after leaving only Radish Beat and myself. While we were rebuilding the band in 2004 we took the opportunity to invite one of the band's local fans, Jessi Nakles, to join us on keyboard and backing vocals. Jessi had never played in a band before, but always loved music and loved seeing bands. We saw Jessi's inexperience as more of an asset than any type of caveat as it brought a listener's perspective to the band. At the same time Radish Beat, who originally played bass moved to drums. It was at this time that we started incorporating electronic pads and samples into the acoustic drum kit. The addition of keyboards and electro drums changed the band's sound from straight power pop to a more new wave/post punk-infused approach.

It is in this time period where Then New Loud began to gain traction. In 2005 we headed into my project studio, Bobby Peru Recording (Fall Out Boy, Beatallica, Red Knife Lottery), to record our first demo entitled ME(secrets)YOU. Upon release in 2006, ME(secrets)YOU is added to over 135 radio playlists. 'Secrets', the title track, gets picked up for Abercrombie and Fitch promo as well as a 6 month run on the Hollister Co. website including in-store rotation. This exposure leads to over 40,000+ Myspace plays in less than 12 months.

Evolution sometimes happens through abrupt mutation. With weekend touring picking up in late 2006 the band was in for what seemed like another setback as our bassist decided to quit. After auditioning bass players for 2 months and not finding the correct fit, we decided we didn't want to lose the steady momentum we had been gaining throughout the past year. Since we were already moving in a dance-ier, more rhythmic direction, it was a natural selection to sequence all the bass parts. It is this random mutation that led us to the unique sound The New Loud has today - essentially part human, part machine - with sequenced bass, samples and electronic drum sounds firing off between bursts of electric guitar, acoustic drums and vocals.

So it is in 2007 The New Loud, with computer bass player, affectionately dubbed "error" for her lack of mistakes, began touring and playing as many shows as possible - including a 10-day West Coast Tour, 11 Chicago stops, 3 shows in NYC and several Midwest mini-tours. By the following year touring had become prohibitively expensive due to $4+ gas prices. It is at this time we went back into my recording studio to begin the task of tracking what will be the band's first 2 official releases - the EP 'Can't Stop Not Knowing' and the as of yet untitled full length. Both records being produced/recorded by the band and mixed by Mark Trombino (Blink 182, Jimmy Eat World, Rilo Kiley).

The New Loud has performed at CMJ 2009, Forward Fest 2009, Texas Rockfest 2008, Canadian Music Week 2006 as well as serving as an opener for larger bands such as Yacht, Ludo and the venerable Ataris.

-Shane Olivo (Guitar/Vocals) The New Loud