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PUBLISHED: 10-20-08
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With Surround Sound
While many say that college is where one finds lifelong friends, the members of Surround Sound say otherwise. Four of the five members who make up the band met each other in junior high, never knowing that years later they would be making music, recording albums and would still be the best of friends.
Five years after their first show together, Surround Sound is trying to keep their music going, even though they attend different colleges. Lead singer Bobby Lord and guitarist Zack Anderson are both students at Columbia, bassist Dave Stach is studying at DePaul University, lead guitarist Justin Park is at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and drummer Jake Anderson is in Geneva, Ill.
Like most bands who have been together for years, their music has gone through many changes. What started as a pop group is now a pop/rock band with catchy lyrics, power pop beats and a heavy Beatles influence.
The Chronicle spoke to Stach months before their next album release, Somebody Say Something, about the history of the band, their competition and their friendships.
The Chronicle: How did Surround Sound come together?
Dave Stach: Justin, Bobby, Jake and I met in the eighth grade and we started a punk band called Slow Motion Massacre. We played for a year, Zack was in another band and when his band broke up, we decided to start a pop group. That was in 2004 and we have been Surround Sound since then.
How has your music changed since then?
We started out with [the] four of us. We didn’t have any keyboards, and it was pretty much guitar rock. Then Zack joined and he added acoustic guitar and the keyboards.
Where did the name ‘Surround Sound’ come from?
We got it from someone talking about how we sounded. Someone said that when we played live it sounded like surround sound. It was either that or we all just wrote down some names on a piece of paper.
How would you describe the band’s sound?
It’s like driving pop/rock oriented music-something like that.
Who are your musical influences?
The Beatles, Superdrag, Phantom Planet is huge and then some pop from the ’60s, like The Kinks and The Zombies and stuff from the ’90s.
Who would you consider your competition?
We don’t even compete right now; we haven’t done any shows since school started because of our schedules and the distance. We took a year and a half to record the album so we haven’t played, but we don’t think of the music scene as a competition because we’re all friends and we’re all in it together.
How many albums do you have so far?
We recorded our first album in 2005 and 2006 and we just recorded a new album, Somebody Say Something, which will be released in the next couple of months.
How well do you get along?
We have known each other since grammar school, and we would hang out every day when we were in Geneva, Ill., where we grew up. Even though we can’t do that now, we still try to hang out once in a while.
Any future plans?
Another album, I hope, and just to work on some videos and get some shows.
To check out Surround Sound’s videos and information on their latest album release, visit MySpace.com/SurroundSound.
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