Vespertine Movement

The naming of Catonsville band Vespertine Movement isn’t exactly an exciting tale.

“We had been playing together for a while and we didn’t exactly have a name,” said vocalist/guitarist John Kennelly. “So Zach and I played around with a dictionary and landed on the word 'vespertine,' which means 'to occur in the evening.’ ”

Creative name or no, the rock-infused jam band Vespertine Movement — which also
includes vocalist/guitarist Michael “Guzzi” Guzman, drummer Zach Wilson and bassist Owen McCusker — has had one whirlwind of a ride since coming together a year ago.

The band members, who have been friends since high school, started jamming together at the 8x10’s Open Mic Nights and were asked to come back for the venue’s Five Bands for Five Bucks after impressing the staff. Following those performances, promoted mostly through Facebook and MySpace, VM has landed gigs at Recher Theatre in Towson, the Red House Tavern in Canton and most recently, Sonar in Fells Point.

"It’s definitely been worth every minute,” McCusker said. “I love these guys even after the tough and hectic times. We’ve learned to grow together.”

While they occasionally do covers, most of Vespertine Movement’s material is original; an effort they say is completely collaborative. “Usually one
of us will bring one element to the table. Like some lyrics or maybe a
riff,” Guzman said. “Then we kind of jam around with it.”
The song “Captain Creevers” is a crowd favorite. “It combines four of our most unique playing styles. For me, it’s bluesy, for Owen it’s funky, for Zach it’s flashy, and for Guzzi it’s just weird and eerie,” Kennelly
said.

All four members work and attend college — Wilson and Kennelly at Towson, Guzman at College Park and McCusker at UMBC — but manage to keep the band a priority.

“I still balance school, leisure, and work; but being in Vespertine
Movement gets me through. It drives me to get through the week knowing that we will get to jam during the weekend,” Wilson said.

- Emily Campbell, Baltimore Examiner

Four best friends, after years of dipping their toes in the water of other endeavors, set out to form a band.

All with a love of music, they travel to a small rural college with no band name but a fierce desire to play music.

All their hard work pays off and they win the ultimate Battle of the Bands, launching their career in future stardom.

No, this is not a review of the newest Zach Braff movie; this is the life of a different Zach - Zach Wilson and his band, Vespertine Movement.

"All four of us have known each other throughout middle school and high school," Wilson, Vespertine's drummer, said. "We all played with other bands for a while and started playing with each other last year around this time, October or November. We [were] always in bands with other
people so we wanted to form a band [that was] just the four of us."

Wilson and his friends, lead guitarist and vocalist John Kennelly, rhythm guitarist and vocalist Mike Guzman and bassist Owen McCusker traveled to Mount St. Mary's College for a Battle of the Bands competition where
they took home the gold and played an after party for their friend.

After their success at the competition, the band needed a name if they were going to start trying to play local venues.

"We hadn't thought of a name yet," Wilson said. "One night me and John looked into crazy words in the dictionary. He flipped to a page and pointed and it was the word 'vespertine.' He read the definition and thought, 'that's a pretty cool name.'"

Once the friends had a name and some experience, they took their band to local venues.

"Over Thanksgiving break we went down to The 8x10 and we did an open mic there," Wilson said. "One of the guys that was working there really liked us and invited us back for the 5x5 where there are five bands for five dollars. We did that [and] we brought in over 100 people. It was a good show. That was our really big kickoff and we really started playing a lot."

Wilson used a variety of genres to describe their style, from rock to blues to jazz to reggae.

However, they claim to be mostly a jam band that takes their influence from many bands of the same type.

"Alot of the old jam bands are probably some of our biggest influences,"Wilson said. "Obviously, Grateful Dead; they were one of the first ones. We cover some of their songs here and there. Personally, I love Dave Matthews Band. They are a big influence of mine musically."

Lately, Vespertine is working on playing at local shows. After graduation, they hope to focus more of their attention on the band and work their way up
to an established fan base.

After starting out local, they said that they hope to be able to branch out north into Philadelphia and New York.

They say that they aspire to be the type of band that plays at local festivals and club shows.

After making a small demo in January of last year, Vespertine is making a new attempt at an LP album over the winter break. Currently, they are writing new material for the album and simply practicing a lot.

This is quite a balancing act since all four of the members are in school.

Wilson, a mass communications major and Kennelly, an American studies major,
attend Towson while Guzman attends the University of Maryland and McCusker, UMBC.

Since all of the members are in relatively close areas, they all return home on the weekends to practice.

"During the week I do all of the school work and classes," Wilson said. "But also when I don't have a lot of school work, the second thing is booking shows and contacting people. During the week, I'm just looking forward to practice. The band gets me through the week; knowing I'm going to be practicing on the weekend."

Wilson said playing with his friends works out well because they are already close so it makes spending time together easier. He also said over the years they have come to learn each other's musical style, which makes them more in sync
while playing.

"We have been in and out of bands together for five or six years," Wilson said. "We know each other's music styles so we all work around that. We really know who is going to be doing each part at a specific time."


To get more information and hear some of their music, visit www.myspace.com/vespertinemovement.
- Krystina Lucido, The Towerlight

In a modern-day imitation of the Grateful Dead, the Maryland band Vespertine Movement discovered their unique name through the stringing together of two words chosen randomly from a
dictionary. But don't be fooled: they share more in common with the Dead than just their name.


The Catonsville based foursome plays with a distinctively psychedelic
sound, incorporating an eclectic spin that could stump any listener
attempting to decide a genre to which they really belong.

"Our sound feeds off of basic elements like blues and reggae," says bassist Owen McCusker, a junior Music Education Major at UMBC, "but we've started to integrate our own interest in jam bands and mix it into a melting pot of all the stuff we like."


Like the Grateful Dead, their ability to amalgamate otherwise
completely independent sounds, including anything from jazz to punk
rock, simply works. Between two vocal and guitarists, a bassist and a
drummer, the band creates catchy songs that could rival a hypothetical
hybrid between The Low Life and Phish.


Since officially becoming a band last Thanksgiving, Vespertine Movement has played shows at Baltimore club 8x10, the Recher Theater, Santa Fe Café, local college shows and Baltimore's well known Federal Hill Street Beat Festival.

Drummer Zach Wilson, a junior Mass Communications major at Towson University, credits the band's Myspace page for much of their booking success.
"I do a lot of Vespertine Movement's booking, that's my priority along with school," says Wilson. "Myspace is a really good tool for young local bands, but we also e-mail club owners and do open mic nights."


John Kennelly, a junior American Studies major at Towson University, leads the band with skilled guitar licks and strong vocals. Mike "Guzzi" Guzman, a junior Business Management major at the University of Maryland, compliments Kennelly with solid rhythm guitar and backup vocals. Along with the other two members, they hope to record an album at UMBC in the future and gain recognition through Towson's radio station WTMD.


The band's seamless sound not only helps to gain loyal followers, but reflects the close friendship between its members as well. Having known each other since high school, Vespertine Movement concentrates on enjoying their success. "Without fail, you can come to show and see us
grooving and dancing," says McCusker, "Because no matter what we really just look to have a good time."


- Wynne Anderson, Unwind! Magazine