Upside

RECENT UPDATES:

-Upside signs to Tribunal Records
-Upside album, "Jim Beam and the American Dream," in stores April 10
-Regional CD release tour in April, supporting and headlining national tours through end of 2007 and beyond
-Airplay on nationally syndicated Lex and Terry show, morning rock radio show
-A Dfest '06 headliner

--

Upside essentially lives in a filthy Chevrolet Express van. The beastly vehicle was white when the Denton, Texas rock band bought it at auction three years ago. Now the filthy, unwashed heap is a rustbucket. It does run, but has been through plenty of hell. So it’s certainly an easy target for a clichéd symbol to introduce the rock band.

Etched in the dirt on a side panel is the phrase “BRING ROCK BACK,” next to a sloppy drawing of a bleeding heart with a giant ‘X’ emblazoned over it. “Save it for your journal,” it says.

Translation: no bullshit, just the rock.

It has taken years for Upside to discover the driving force of it’s music, but the band has found purpose, resolve and relevance for it’s no-nonsense style of rock music.

“We write rock songs, tour ‘til we hurt. We just live it,” says singer Sid Goldsmith. “My band doesn’t care for gimmicks. People come to our shows to have their ears bleed and still feel the fun when they wake up. It’s rock. It’s supposed to be risky. It’s supposed to be fun. That’s still cool to us, and our fans. Whether it’s trendy or not, we just don’t care.”

Upside is on the heels of releasing it’s most rock-conscious, raw and ambitious work to date: a 12-song album recorded during a month-long session in Athens, Ga., with producers Danny Grady and Kyle Spence.

It’s called “Jim Beam and the American Dream,” and Tribunal Records signed Upside to release it April 10.

Grady is one of the most critically-acclaimed rock minds of the decade thanks to his years fronting the now-defunct Atlanta rock group Injected (Island Records). He’s been a fan and friend of Upside for years, and toured alongside them on one of Injected’s final tours. He demanded to produce their record soon thereafter.

What the dynamic team came up with is a rock record that brings back the open chords and crunchy guitars of AC/DC and conjures up memories of Zeppelin’s most prolific moments of unbridled chemistry.

Grady had a simple goal for the record and pulled it off with flying colors – even more so considering it’s his first time producing a band other than his own.

“Upside was like a machine gun when they came in to record,” Grady says. “What I did was make them a fucking 12-gauge shotgun.”

Guitarist Ben Mosier and Goldsmith have been writing music together for six years and have an uncanny connection lacking from most rock band’s today.

The rhythm section, bassist Rob Hocking and drummer Owen Setter, is equal parts brawn and brains. Deep, Bonham-inspired grooves are the meat, and post-punk chops are the potatoes.

The band get it’s one-of-a-kind edge from a reckless, rock-first attitude inspired by Texas’ foremost metal legends: Pantera.

Upside’s new record, slated for release in spring 2007, has them poised to become the original purveyors of a new brand of rock they humbly created solely for themselves: Texas Party Metal.

“Monday” is an anthem for weekend rock warriors everywhere, and “Campfire Vampires” mocks and spits on the blindness of the religious rights and lefts.

“Anchor” booms with chunky guitar brilliance from Mosier and sweeping vocals from Goldsmith that are equal parts jolting and pristine.

In their five years together, Upside’s two commercial radio singles led to thousands of records sold between three releases and DIY tours rivaling those booked by the top agencies in the nation. It all earned the band a place among the most accomplished unsigned bands in the nation. But satisfaction is slim.

“This record is really our debut, we feel. Everything we’ve done as a band, good and bad, was preparation for this release,” Goldsmith says.

Along the way, the Upside van will get dirtier. Suffice to say, rock is on the way.

--

Tribunal Records retail onesheet

UPSIDE has built rabid following across Midwest and Texas during the past three years through constant touring, commercial and college radio airplay, grassroots street teams, mad hacker skills and chaotic, whiskey-soaked rock shows. Their previous two DIY releases Scope Of History and High Heels And Hand Grenades released in 2003 and 2004 respectively, have sold in excess of 5,000 units. UPSIDE are now regularly headlining and supporting sold out shows at the region’s top club level venues (300-1000 capacity) with plans to tour the entire country in 2007. Having supported such diverse acts like Velvet Revolver, He Is Legend, Glassjaw, Blue October and Bowling For Soup, UPSIDE’s buzz, grows every day. Their eagerly and highly-anticipated new album, Jim Beam and the American Dream (produced by Danny Grady of INJECTED) is the first and only recordin