Before I was in Ladies & Everyone, I didn't listen to instrumental bands. Jazz and classical were it. The first band I can remember seeing that was instrumental was the band Number 2, from Syracuse. Before I started Ladies & Everyone, I played in the band Amorous Radio. We played alot of shows with alot of great bands. Its unbelievable looking back because there was such a stigma connected to us in Syracuse. Scene politics was all that mattered then i guess. I'll tell people now how we covered Fugazi and wanted to cover Unwound and I'll get "I could never see that band covering those bands, I could see them covering Get Up Kids..." And that honestly shows that, people didn't like us, based off of what the band was before I joined. But i digress.
The first time i remember playing with Number 2 was in Ithaca. I feel like we were in the downtown area. I cant remember the name of the venue. But really, it was just a art gallery. It was super tiny. The show was in the basement. As weird as it sounds, I cant really remember much about that show. I cant remember our set. Maybe we didn't even end up playing. I have no clue. I do remember being upstairs sitting with our equipment with Anthony (yes, he was in Amorous Radio too. That band began our run for how many bands we could do together. haha.) I remember being sort of bummed because it was a shit show. There weren't that many kids there. We had to lug all of our shit like a block to the venue. And at that time, some shitty nu metal band was playing. Who i think the crowd was there to see, because I dont remember many people being there after their set. Anyway, that band played and Rossman and Vonpless decided to go check out the next band. A little while later they started and i remember both anthony and i looking at each other and saying, this sounds pretty awesome. Rossman came up a lil while later going on about how great they were. so we went and watched. it was awesome. it was like the best proggy parts from Rush songs back to back. We quickly befriended them and played more shows. A year or so later, Anthony and I started Ladies & Everyone as a side project, and the rest is history...or so they would have you believe.
When Ladies & Everyone decided to stay instrumental, I started to listen to alot more bands in that vein. Our first show we got compared to Don Caballero, who at that point, i had never heard of. And its just snowballed from there. Ive become alot more knowledgeable on the genre then when i first saw Number 2 play. Through the years I've stayed friends with the guys in Number 2. A few years ago Bob, their drummer, offered to help my solo project Kalechex play a show. It didn't pan out, but while i was over at his house practicing, he showed me the band Bozart. Who Number 2 had always referenced as one of their main influences. I immediately thought the band was outrageous. The only sad thing about it was, it took away a little bit of the mystique that Number 2 had for me. Cause the band bares alot of resemblance to Bozart.
Bunge was the first album i heard by the band. And its awesome. Guitar & drum mathy metal-ish duo. "Set Aside" is easily one of my all time favorite instrumental tracks period. Somehow or another the band has stayed under the radar. Not alot of people have heard of them. I think they are very original and stand out against their musical peers. I think if you like any kind of mathy instrumental music, you should hear this band, and more specifically, this album.
Buy it if you like it
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