This Century

This Century
Look What We Made EP
score: -A


This Century’s latest EP, Look What We Made, is as impressive as it is brief. The Tempe band’s polished, funky pop rock sounds ready-made for radio airplay. The biggest disappointment is that they didn’t give us any more of it. The opening track, “It’s Not You, It’s Me,” features a head-bobbing beat by drummer Ryan Gose and ’70s-sounding slap bass by Alex Silverman. Guitarists Sean Silverman and Van Ruskin add to the ’70s feel, while vocalist Joel Kanitz sings a tale of a love that never quite connected. It’s the standout track of the EP and plays to the band’s strengths. The second track, “Acts of Desperation,” is a slightly moodier number that sees the band ditch the funk for a more traditional indie pop approach. But the funk returns on “Want You,” a mid-tempo number featuring wah guitar and more funky bass. The final track, “The Moment,” is Kantiz’s chance to shine, as he alternates between his normal range and a great falsetto delivery. At their grooviest, This Century sounds like a latter day Jamiroquai, but the funk-laced pop rock of bands like Maroon 5 and Under The Influence Of Giants seems like a more prominent influence. The band also benefits from Matt Grabe’s top-notch production. The EP is one of the most professional-sounding efforts by a local band to cross my desk in recent memory. If This Century continues to produce music as catchy as these four tracks, their future appears very bright indeed. - Mike R. Meyer

Phoenix is known for Jimmy Eat World, the Format and the Gin Blossoms. It's known for its post-hardcore and poppy music movements. This Century doesn't use any of those styles and seems to have one of their own. This band is quietly turning heads - Tim Towner

Budding from the downtown Phoenix Art district music scene indie pop rockers, This Century has taken Arizona by storm. Blending their jazz-indie fusion style of music has a fresh new sound that has the hair gelled “scensters” bobbin’ their heads to their catchy riffs and professional stage performance. Although they have found much success in their recent musical comings, This Century, has chosen to savor their small accomplishments by remembering what comes first, the band.
Assembled in 2005, under the name Evident Earth, the band has found out what it was really like to be a band. “Ryan and I were originally apart of local bands in Arizona. Although our bands didn’t make it, we all however wanted to be apart of a band together, says Sean, lead guitarist of the band. “My brother plays bass and through him we met Joel (lead singer) in high school and we most recently rounded out our members with Van as our second guitarist, and the rest is history.” The band originally went through it’s rough spots in the beginning, having trouble with their original name Evident Earth. “Everyone kept on calling us Heaven & Earth. And unfortunately we didn’t play enough 80’s hair metal to be well adjusted to the name, so we changed our name to This Century,” says Sean. “The name originally came up when in a joking matter when we were constantly saying that we need to make a decision (on the band name), sometime this century.” And so it was, This Century was formed.
With their recent success of packing venues such as The One Place, Modified and other downtown arts venues, This Century has decided to go into the studio to create their first album under their new band name. “Our first EP was crap… and we really want to properly introduce Arizona to This Century, however we are taking our time with it, there really isn’t any rush,” says Sean. “We’ve been sitting on this new music for quite a long time, and we just want our fans to have their own copy of our music, so they can sing along and dance during our show.” The EP is set to release in March 2008 and will be in limited pressing to see how people react to it. This Century has also chosen to record with Matt Grave (Raining and Ok, The Maine, Anarbor). “We were really happy to know that Matt was open to try out our new things with our music, and he was very open minded,” says Sean. Blending the influence of old funk beats of Earth Wind and Fire, with the new melodies Coldplay and Radiohead, this album is sure to be a great one for 2008.
Rising to the fore front of the Arizona Pop rock scene, This Century runs in a great and very talented group of bands. Local rockers, Raining & Ok have branded national attention with their latest release, Devil on your Shoulders, rating 4 out of 5 stars on CopperStateMusic.com and has also garnished spotlight from Alternative Press Magazine this past November. Also running in circles with This Century, The Summer Set, has proved a vital cog in the Arizona rock pop scene, recently releasing their latest album Love the Love You Have with a DVD releasing very soon as well. “We love hanging with these bands, because everyone is so tight. It seems that everyone has the best intention for the Phoenix Music scene,” says Sean.
Although the band has gone through a fair amount of success recently, the band continues to stay very grounded through it all. “Our main goal is to get this gig so that we can do it full time.. right now we all have either work or school that helps us along the way. But we would all love to be able to do this as our full time jobs,” Sean continues, “we really believe in what we are doing and want to see the best things happen and take it all step by step.” - Carlos SM