Heres a recent article from Citizen-Times.com stemming from their national release. I’m block quoting the whole thing cuz it deserves it!
Warning: This band is ready to explode
Local metal giants Sanctity land major recording contract
by Ron Wagner, CITIZEN-TIMES CORRESPONDENT
published January 20, 2006 6:00 am
ASHEVILLE — In the cartoon, Wile E. Coyote could never catch the Roadrunner.
Maybe instead of wasting his money on Acme anvils, he should have invested in an electric guitar.
Asheville-based metal band Sanctity took the latest, and by far biggest, step of its budding career this week when it ran down a deal with Roadrunner Records, an independent label specializing in hard rock that produces records globally for well-known bands like Nickelback, Fear Factory, Slipknot and Type O Negative.
“Roadrunner is the only heavy-metal major record label in the world,” said Sanctity bass player Billy Moody, 21.
Sanctity and Roadrunner had been in negotiations since November 2004, but group members sealed the deal with a video they produced — and financed — themselves for the song “Zeppo,” an early favorite among the band’s growing legion of fans.
Moody contacted director Ramon Boutviseth and the group met him in Florida late last year to do the shoot. They spent 10 hot, dusty hours in an abandoned prison and the result was better than anyone would have imagined.
Roadrunner A&R (Artists and Repertoire) man Monte Conner was blown away, and so were his bosses.
“In being an A&R person, you still have to sell the band to your boss,” he said. “So I called the band and said, ‘In order to sell you guys, my bosses are going to want to see a visual.’ … I’ve to give credit to those guys. They managed to get in touch with an up-and-coming guy looking to break into the video world. They went in at no cost and delivered an MTV-quality video, something that we would be able to play on ‘Headbanger’s Ball.’ And it really showed the stripes of the group.”
Lead singer Jared MacEachern, especially, impressed the brass.
“Jared really commands that stage and really looks like a star in the making, even though it’s the first video he’s done,” Conner said. “Jared has a great voice. The guy has great range, and the world hasn’t even heard his voice yet. He definitely does not sound like a typical metal singer. His voice is unusual and he’s doing something there that nobody else is doing.”
Conner compares Sanctity to In Flames and Trivium, saying the group’s music is “basically melodic, European-based metal.”
Gaining exposure, getting a deal
Roadrunner became seriously interested in Sanctity in 2004 when Conner saw the group play at Ground Zero in Spartanburg, S.C.
Trivium, an Orlando, Fla.-based band and one of the hottest metal acts in the country, had encouraged Roadrunner to give Sanctity a chance and got the band a gig opening for it and Fear Factor.
It was the biggest show Sanctity had ever been a part of, and the members came through with a head-turning performance.
“Pretty much you always want to see a metal band live before you sign them,” Conner said. The bands have to rule in live shows, he explained: “They have to prove themselves every night.”
“If it weren’t for (Trivium), a lot of stuff wouldn’t have happened,” Moody said. “The record labels don’t usually find you. It’s usually word of mouth from other bands. And (Trivium) basically said, ‘Hey, listen to this band, they’re pretty cool.’ And we got a shot at it and we did the rest, but they presented us with the opportunity.”
Time to get busy
As area fans know, Sancitity has released three EPs over the years, but the first Roadrunner record will contain new material with the exception of “Zeppo.” That means the band, which splits songwriting duties, has some work to do.
“We’ve probably got enough for maybe half (of an album). … We’ve got seven songs so far, and they want 10 to 15 more,” MacEachern said.
Sanctity will begin recording this summer with Jason Suecof at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Fla., with a release date scheduled for the fall. The deal has seven options, meaning Roadrunner can release up to seven Sanctity albums, assuming the ones prior sell well enough.
Just because Sanctity has been signed by a big label, however, doesn’t mean that the four members are on easy street. All will continue to work their day jobs until they sell enough records to make money for themselves.
“The biggest goal is starting to pay off the label for the up-front money as fast as possible,” Moody said. “Everybody gets paid before the band does.”
Band began in Brevard
The record deal is the culmination of six years of work for three of the four band members, who first met and formed Sanctity in Brevard in 2000.
Original members Jeremy London, the drummer, and lead guitarist Zeff Childress had been playing music together since middle school, but it was a chance meeting with MacEachern when the two were seniors at Brevard High that laid the foundation for the group that exists today.
London and Childress were playing a show at Brevard College, and MacEachern, a music major at the school from Virginia Beach, Va., happened to be in the audience. He asked if he could join them on stage for a song or two, and the rest is history.
“We had just lost our original singer … Jared comes in and he was like, ‘Hey man, can I do a song with you guys,’ ” London said. “He knew a bunch of Metallica songs and we knew a bunch of Metallica songs so we just started doing Metallica covers, and he was awesome.”
Building a local fan base
Sanctity began playing local shows to larger and larger crowds, picking up Moody along the way in 2004 and graduating to Asheville clubs like Be Here Now and Stella Blue while also doing gigs at Bele Chere in 2002 and 2004. They’ve also performed in nearly every decent-sized city in the Carolinas, but the band members are unanimous in thanking one fairly unlikely venue for their success.
Akumi on Wall Street in Asheville closed recently, but while the Japanese restaurant was in business the owners and Sanctity formed a strong relationship.
“It was a little Japanese lady who liked metal who owned the place,” Moody said. “If it weren’t for Akumi, our local fan base wouldn’t be half of what it is.”
MacEachern says that sushi tables gave way to standing-room only crowds when Sanctity showed up, turning Akumi from a sit-down eatery into one of the hardest-rocking places in the mountains.
“They were free shows and they were all ages. And that place would get packed. … It kind of became our stomping grounds for quite a bit,” he said. “We would pack three or four hundred kids in there. It was nuts. They were nuts, they were jumping off stuff, broken stuff everywhere — it was crazy.”
Though all of the band’s members are 21 or older, they recognize that their fan base is often much younger — which has at times presented problems when it comes time to find a place to play.
“We try to not play 21-up shows to cater to our younger fans.” Moody says. “We love Stella Blue, it’s a great place, but we don’t really usually want to play there because none of our fans would show up because they can’t. … It would be really nice to see some of the venues around here open up their doors to younger people.”
Now that the record deal is in place, Sanctity’s popularity in its hometown will likely explode. But people will have to wait until at least February to hear the band perform again in the surrounding area.
“We were hoping to set up a show in Asheville at the beginning of February,” London said. “Our next actual show is Feb. 17 in Marion at a place called Ivan’s.”
Meet the band
Jared MacEachern, vocals/rhythm guitar
n Age: 25
• Hometown: Virginia Beach, Va. (Cox High, 1997)
• If he wasn’t in Sanctity, he’d be: “Either still in school and/or living with my parents. Seriously. And my wife. The only thing I wanted to do was be a music teacher or some kind of professional musician.”
• Top musical influence: “Metallica is the one that started it all for me. The album that really got me into what I like now is the ‘Kill ’Em All’ album.”
• Favorite song: “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Metallica.
• Favorite Sanctity song: “Lost to Ego”
• If you go to a Sanctity show, Jared guarantees: “There’ll be lots of head-banging and probably some blood, which we’ve had before. We had a kid walk out with a golf ball-sized lump on his head, and he was like, ‘Oh man, it’s the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.’”
Zeff Childress, lead guitar
n Age: 23
• Hometown: Brevard (Brevard High, 2000)
• If he wasn’t in Sanctity, he’d be: “Doing something either with computers or cars.”
• Top musical influence: “Strictly just metal bands, it would probably be the In Flames. They’re a Swedish band, and when I heard them they were just so different from American-style metal. It was a lot more classical sounding.”
• Favorite song: The live version of Dokken’s “Tooth and Nail.”
• Favorite Sanctity song: “Brotherhood”
• If you go to a Sanctity show, Zeff guarantees: “You’ll have fun.’
Billy Moody, bass
n Age: 21
• Hometown: Jacksonville, Fla. (Roberson High, 2002)
• If he wasn’t in Sanctity, he’d be: “Workin’ for the man. … I have been a professional video-game player. I quit college, and I was at school for computer science. I was hoping to make over $100,000 a year. I probably would have done something for the money, but I wouldn’t be happy.”
• Top musical influence: “The album that got me started into what I’m in now is probably Silverchair’s ‘Frogstomp’ album. And the next metal album I was into was Metallica’s ‘Ride the Lightning.’”
• Favorite song: “Shot in the Dark” by Ozzy Osbourne.
• Favorite Sanctity song: “Once Again”
• If you go to a Sanctity show, Billy guarantees: “You’ll get my sweat on you.”
Jeremy London, drums
n Age: 24
• Hometown: Brevard (Brevard High, 2000)
• If he wasn’t in Sanctity, he’d be: “I don’t know. I’ve always been interested in radio, multi-media.”
• Top musical influence: Metallica’s “And Justice for All.” n Favorite song: “Like Light to Flies” by Trivium.
• Favorite Sanctity song: “Mistakes”
• If you go to a Sanctity show, Jeremy guarantees: “Exploding heads.”
Ron Wagner of Hendersonville is a freelance writer.
