In a time where bands are pieced together in an effort to make money and attract a certain crowd, there is a need for bands to return to the basics of music — most importantly for fun. Until The Anthem is one such band who has demonstrated this successfully and who has recaptured the true essence of what making music is all about. They say it themselves, “Until The Anthem was never meant to be a band”. It was built by two childhood friends — Jesse Triplett on guitar and vocals and Tom DuPree III on drums. They came together to create music for fun. But in the end, their passion and talent resulted in a highly recommended self-titled debut album.

Upon listening to their album, a watered down Nine Inch Nails mixed with the softer side of Linkin Park, combined with the gravely vocal styling of Chris Cornell creates the alternative rock sound of Until The Anthem. Watered down as it may be, do not take this reference as a slight!

Just because they don’t have the lower tunings and edgy lyrics reminiscent of NIN doesn’t mean Until The Anthem doesn’t hold their own ground! This band has begun their musical journey using sounds that are reminiscent of classic NIN, as well as modern day Linkin Park.   As a result, Until The Anthem has found their own individual way of creating music.

From the beginning of the album, Until The Anthem grabs your attention with the fast paced song titled “Bullets”. This song is full of great harmonies in the verses and heavy hitting guitars in the chorus. “Bullets” has some great programming in it as well, especially near the end where the riff skips a bit and puts a fresh new sound to the same song. It makes you want to rewind the song to hear it all again.

The CD continues with the song “You’re Not Alone”. It is a fairly simple song, but has a great chorus that I challenge anyone to try and not get it stuck in their head.  If you are not singing this chorus after the song is through than you probably weren’t listening to the song at all. They bring back the fun programming of the guitars in the bridge and again left me wanting to rewind and hear that energy again.

As the disc continues, there are softer songs that in the right setting and mood could make you drift away into a musical dream land. The song “Melody” is one such song. It is a wonderful song with flowing guitars and simple drums keeping the beat along the way. It is here in this song that the gravely high pitched notes reminiscent of Chris Cornell can really be heard. I personally think this song would have made a great closer to the CD especially with the dreamy female vocals floating in the background surrounded by strings and lasting notes holding out till the end.

The next song kicks right into their most electronic track yet, “Six Feet”, which has a very sexy and slithering tone throughout.   Though it is very different from the CD’s opener “Bullets”, it is close to what the group is trying to achieve and by far uninviting or skip worthy. As the disc continues, they stick to the same structure as before with another rock song “KOS” to the slower song “What If” and soon into another electronically influenced song “Make It Out Alive”.

The CD closes with the song “Call to Arms”, which reminds me of the sound that Linkin Park has evolved in to today. It is filled with marching drums, electronic beats, and sound effects alongside a vocal plea of starting a revolution. If I couldn’t have “Melody” end the CD, this would definitely be my second choice. By the time the CD is done, you’re ready to replay the first track and get the experience all over again.

I can’t say that Until The Anthem is doing anything over the top original, but they are definitely taking a new look at blending alternative rock   and electronic elements and bringing them in a nice fresh package to your ears. If you are a fan of Linkin Park or even 30 Seconds to Mars and you’re looking for that new CD to add to your collection, Until The Anthem is that band.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jeff I am a musician out of the Philadelphia area. While playing I have been blessed to work with some great producers and have the amazing opportunities to share the stage with many great artists. My time in the music community and love for music has taught and given me my appreciation for great music and the want to help share and promote those types of acts.

EMURG writer Jeff Schmitt interviewed drummer Tom DuPree III and lead vocalist/guitarist Jesse Triplett of the up-and-coming Nashville outfit Until the Anthem.

The band’s two founding members also make up two-fifths of EMURG Rising Five favorites Throwing Gravity and are ready to take Until the Anthem to the same heights that made Throwing Gravity a household name amongst EMURGers.

Part I:

JS: How did you come up with the band name?
UTA: It was actually a candidate for another band that we were in at the time.  We both loved it, but it didn’t stick so we decided to use it for this project.

JS: What artists/bands/songs/albums influenced you?
UTA: Some of the influences you’ll hear on this record are (in no particular order):  Muse, Linkin Park, December Radio, Foo Fighters, and Anberlin.

JS: What are you listening to right now?
UTA: Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of Fever Ray, Army of Anyone and Radiohead.  At this moment, I’m listening to a radio station based on Foster the People on Spotify.  Spotify is truly amazing.

JS: What’s your favorite show/performance been as a band?
UTA: We recently played a smaller show at The End in Nashville that was a lot of fun.  It’s a smaller room in town with a great feel and great sound.  We had a lot of friends there, so it turned out to be a blast.

JS: If I want people to remember one song from your band, it would be…

UTA: Either The Fall or Six Feet.  I’d probably say The Fall.

Part II:
JS: You have listed Jesse Triplett and Tom DuPree III as the founding
members. However, you describe yourselves as a four-piece. Who are the other
members and what are their backgrounds?

UTA: Nicely done.  Way to pick up on that!  The other two members of the group are Joe Pangallo on guitar – Joe was in a band called Day of Fire for many years and has played shows around the globe with bands like Daughtry and Sevendust – and Chris Boyle on bass – Boyle (we don’t call him Chris) has toured the world with various country artists as well and even filled in for Day of Fire with Joe for a while.  They are both MONSTER players and we are so thankful to have them on board.

JS: You all have gotten to rub shoulders with some musical greats. Who
gave you the best advice and helped get you to where you are now
musically?
UTA: Some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten (via Jesse actually) came quite recently actually. Jesse was having a conversation with Collective Soul’s manager, Fred, about starting this new project and they got into the changes that have happened in the business within the last decade, and Fred said something to the effect of (and I’m paraphrasing here), “Despite all the changes that have occurred in music, the one that hasn’t changed is that if you go out and you play, and you’re good, and you have good songs, people will like it.”  That really resonated with me.  I believe that to be completely true.

JS: What has been the hardest struggle for Until the Anthem?
UTA: Honestly, the hardest part has probably been getting this project to a point where it’s got some legs underneath it and can actually start to move.  I believe we’ve finally gotten to that point and now we’re ready to start running.

JS: Where do you see the band going in the next year?
UTA: Our main goal within the next year is to develop a strong presence within about 300 miles of Nashville by having an absolutely killer live show.  In my opinion, the strongest aspect of our band is the musicianship.  We don’t feel limited at all in that way, and we plan to take advantage of that talent in our live show.  You’ll want to see us on stage.  We’re going to be doing some pretty impressive stuff.

JS: Who is one producer or musician you would love to work with on an album?
UTA: I think Jesse and I both would love to work with Eric Valentine on a record.  He’s produced some killer records for bands like Lostprophets and Third Eye Blind.  We’re both huge fans of his work and we feel like he would get the vision that we have for this band.

You can buy Until the Anthem’s February self-titled debut at Amazon and you can actually check out the album on their Facebook page as well.