You You Dark Forest
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You You Dark Forest

Reading, Pennsylvania, United States | SELF

Reading, Pennsylvania, United States | SELF
Band Rock New Age

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This band has not uploaded any videos

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"You, You Dark Forest out of the dark"

Not all band names are conventional, often times it’s the ones with the odder names that have some of the most interesting and well thought out music around.

“A lot of the inspiration comes from hiking in the woods so the name just seemed to fit,” said drummer Mark Giambrone during a interview at the Up-town Espresso Bar on Main Street.

You, You Dark Forest was created by Giambrone, a senior Biology major at KU, when he became frustrated with his other bands that would just play and not go anywhere else.

You, You Dark Forest consists of drummer Giambrone, three guitar players, Danny Bechtei, Chris Baldys and Zachery Groff, a senior philosophy major and finally a bass player named Vadim Fedorovsky.

Each member of the band has been playing music for his whole life and has been able to take those experiences to create something rather unique.

They mix heavy alternative riffs with slow and clean melodies that make the dynamics of the music change around quite often.

The demo, which is a called Live at the Reverb 8/6/2011, was recorded at The Reverb in Reading, Pa during a show there over the summer.

Though the live demo has only three songs, each song lasts for nearly nine minutes. So if you’re expecting a quick song with the standard verse, chorus, and verse you may be a little disappointed.

Instead they blend a mix of genres with interesting melodies and time signatures to create a sound that is different to the area.

Many may associate instrumental music with guitar solos and cool riffs, however, some of the best part of the demo is the drumming.

Giambrone keeps time with the guitars and adds his own flare to keep the rhythm section interesting.

“Our music is more geared towards smaller venues; we like to have a more intimate setting. It just seems to fit the music better.”

In order to get more of a crowd to follow the band, they hope to get a regular showcase of bands that play instrumental music at Eckhaus, an art gallery in Kutztown.

“I’ve always gravitated towards instrumental music,” Giambrone said. “We’re not opposed to lyrics, but one of the reasons we do instrumental is because it allows people to come up with their own meaning behind the songs.”

Giambrone said that if they found a vocalist who had a voice that they all felt fit the music they would consider the option but for now they are content playing instrumentals.

After realizing they have a unique sound they began playing shows all over and even have a tour planned for the winter.

“We play shows very consistently; we play about four shows a month. We’re actually going on tour across [the country] to California in January,” said Giambrone

The band has a booking agent but said that the tour they have planned out is a result of booking the shows through a DIY website, indieonethemove.com, which is a website for unsigned bands who hope to tour without having to pay someone to book shows for them.

Once they have a few more songs, You, You Dark Forest plans on recording a studio full length but still isn’t sure where they’d like to go to do it.

“We may have Casey, the guy who recorded us at the Reverb do it again or we may go to Mama’s Boy studios in Kutztown,” Giambrone said. “It just depends on how it will sound with whatever producer we decide to go to.”

Giambrone says that although he is Biology major and will be graduating with a degree he would prefer to make music his life and attempt to make a living playing drums.

You, You Dark Forest is playing a show at Eckhause in Kutztown on West Main Street on Friday, Sept. 23. The show begins at 7 p.m., and You, You Dark Forest expect to begin playing around 9 p.m. To find out more information about the band and listen to their demo go to www.youyoudarkforest.bandcamp.com or facebook.com/youyoudarkforest. - Published by Dan Clark in Culture on September 21st, 2011


"Eckhaus “blasting off” in new directions for the community"

Eckhaus is a student run, non-profit contemporary art gallery that is open to anyone in the community. It doubles as a space for all media and community events, it is a place where artisans, writers, and musicians can display their work for everyone to see. If you want to see different forms of art by KU students who aren’t in the school exhibits than Eckhaus is the place to go.

On Friday, Sept. 23, Eckhaus invited the bands Umami, L’Astronaut, and You, You Dark Forest to perform. These three instrumental bands had Eckhaus’ audience dancing and wanting to hear more.

With their images of NASA and space pictures being projected during their set, You, You Dark Forest performed a genre of music that has a new and emerging sound, labeling themselves as post-rock. The pictures add to the unpredictable qualities of the music as it’s always dynamically changing. They are a five-member band comprised of three guitarists, a bassist and a drummer who also doubles as a synth player.

“Our music is like an abstract work of art – everyone has their own interpretations which makes our music unique,” said drummer Mark Giambrone.

Each of the three bands there had a similar “improvisation groove” to it where the members felt the music and let their intuitions take over their instruments. All of the songs have a resemblance of ambient, space music with a heavy articulation of bass and drums, giving it an extremely unique sound profile.

“Bringing creativity to KU and Eckhaus is what we love ,and we want to promote our music by doing small shows here,” Giambrone said.

He later stated that they continually encourage people to be creative because they want people to see the inspiration they have. He also noted that he wants people spread the word to come out and support the local music scene.

Giambrone said that their influence comes from the bands like Godspeed and Maserati and inspiration comes from hikes in the woods and foraging deep into the forest. This is where he said that the name of the band originated.

You, You Dark Forest and Umami will be making another appearance at Eckhaus on Friday, Oct. 7, at 8 p.m. They will be asking for a donation of $5 at the door and they will be giving away free stickers and CDs.

Eckhaus’s current show, curated by Meghan Fridirici, entitled “We’re Still Fine,” features works from KU Alumni of all different media. The show will be up until Oct.15. The gallery is open Monday 10 a.m.-9 p.m., Tuesday 3-9 p.m. Wednesday 6 -10 p.m. and Thursday-Saturday from 6 -9 p.m. or by appointment.

On Thursday, Oct. 6th, Mexican printmaker César Chávez of Oaxaca, Mexico will be visiting to do a Mexican potluck dinner and a film screening. This event is open to the public and all are encouraged to come.

Eckhaus is on West Main Street next to Pretzel Revolution and Betty’s. For more information about upcoming shows and events, visit www.facebook.com/eckhausgallery or www.eckhausgallery. - Published by William Muller in Culture on September 28th, 2011


Discography

Still working on that hot first release.

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Bio

Started in the basements of the three original members' dwellings, You You dark Forest began officially in March 2011.

Basically, a group of very close friends started playing music together more regularly, and began thinking: "hey this sounds pretty good; let's do something with it". Then the music started to flow. The original work was based loosely around the solo projects Wandering ...Still (the guitarist, Danny) and Lie Comma Coma (the drummer, Mark) coming together. With the addition of Vadim Fedorovsky on the bass, it seemed as if the group was complete.

A short while after You You Dark Forest began playing shows, a new member was added. Zachary Groff (a friend and fellow musician) began playing in basement jam sessions. His guitar work added a depth and distinction to the music that the original members hardly knew was missing, but after his addition could not possibly deny.

Some months after the addition of Zachary, You You Dark Forest further expanded its membership to include Danny's cousin, Chris Baldys on guitar. His presence is valuable to this group; You You Dark Forest is ever so fortunate to have him.