Emo-inflected pop/punk act Name Taken formed in October 1999, originally named All That’s Left, when its members were still in their mid-teens. Starting off as a quartet, the Orange County crew eventually parted ways with one of their guitarists and the remaining members — vocalist/bassist Chad Atkinson, guitarist/vocalist Blake Means, and drummer Bret Meisenbach — recorded a demo. The Stupid Chad EP resulted, and shortly after the band independently released it, they added in second guitarist Ryan Edwards to fill out their sound. Around the same time, another band called All That’s Left was uncovered, and the guys mended the situation by becoming Name Taken. Less than a year after the switch, in August 2001, the group entered a Riverside studio to record another EP. The Silent Game was picked up by Top Notch Records and released three months after its completion. Following this EP, Meisenbach made his exit and was replaced behind the kit by Danny Valencia. A bunch of compilation appearances surfaced before Name Taken hooked up with Long Island’s Bayside to release a split album on Dying Wish Records in 2003. The band next joined forces with Fiddler Records for their April 2004 debut full-length, Hold On. Fans of similarly earnest pop/punk acts like Saves the Day took to the record, but Name Taken’s modest success was short-lived. The band broke up in 2005, playing their last show that June, so certain members could go back to school. Name Taken reunited for two shows at Anaheim’s Chain Reaction in May 2007, dubbed simply “refresher courses” by the band; the second show was added when the first sold out in less than two days.

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Daphne Loves Derby
Kenny Choi – vocals, guitars
Spencer Abbott — guitars
Stu Clay — drums

In making their second full-length, Seattle-area indie rockers Daphne Loves Derby turned to the past to pave their own forward-looking musical path. After returning home from several months of the road life, the foursome opted to immerse themselves with a variety of albums from respected artists like Frank Sinatra, The Eagles, Janis Ian and The Cardigans. It was in these classic albums that the members of Daphne Loves Derby discovered inspiration to forge ahead into crafting its own future.

But that doesn’t mean the act created an album that exclusively nods to yesterday’s hit makers. To the contrary, the songs of Good Night, Witness Light are about as current as it gets, rubbing shoulders with the genre’s best. Having racked serious mileage and a notable stage tally touring with artists like Copeland, Paulson, House of Fools, Waking Ashland, This Providence and Sherwood, Daphne Loves Derby had undoubtedly found itself surrounded by solid musical companionship, gaining immeasurable experience.

Though the band traces its roots to the earlier part of the decade, Daphne Loves Derby is best known for its 2005 Outlook-released full-length debut, On the Strength of All Convinced. Bolstered by an impressive online presence — which continues to this day (as of this writing, the band had racked nearly 4,000,000 plays on its MySpace page) — On the Strength of All Convinced found many takers and garnered its share of praise from the music media. That’s an impressive feat for a few musicians that weren’t even of drinking age at the time of its release.

On the Strength of All Convinced also gave the band a well-deserved opportunity to hit the road (with the addition of guitarist Spencer Abbott) across the nation and overseas in Japan — even if Daphne Loves Derby vocalist/guitarist Kenny Choi doesn’t think he and his bandmates should’ve been sharing bills with such high profile and influential acts.

“I had the time of my life because I got to tour with some of my favorite bands,” says Choi. “Copeland, I’m still obsessed with that band, I love everything that they’ve put out. I couldn’t believe I was on tour with them. Jack’s Mannequin was one of my favorite bands too. We got really lucky, those are all tours that we shouldn’t have gotten yet, but we were lucky enough. It was good because you’d learn so much. Those bands are real experienced, and such good musicians, and we’d watch them every night.”

Taking into account what they experienced on a nightly basis — as well as the aforementioned listening of albums — Daphne Loves Derby took a break from the touring life during the summer of 2006 and entered the Maryland home studio of production prodigy Matt Squire (Panic! At The Disco).

“He seemed the most interested in us and we wanted to work with someone that was excited for the project,” says Choi. “I’d only heard a couple of his CDs but I liked everything he did on them, plus he had a home that was connected to the studio, so I think it was an amazing idea to live in the studio the entire time. We could be focused on it, away from home.”

Such focus led to an album process that offered plenty of fresh angles for Daphne Loves Derby, including the ability to spend hours writing parts to incorporate new instrumentation on its tracks. “We had some friends in the area that could play cello and French horn,” says Choi. “We brought them in and we were able to record real instruments on the CD and that made it sound so much deeper and classier than a fake MIDI track. It was a lot of fun and I think it came out well.”

The marching band intro to “That’s Our Hero Shot” was inspired by the movie, “Drumline.” “We rented out the marching equipment and Stu stayed up all night one night and wrote out this entire marching band part,” says Choi. “We recorded it the next day and it was just a whole lot of fun.”

The resulting two months in the studio produced an album with an expansive variety of material, from the Radiohead-inspired melodies of “How’s It Going To End?” to the powerful “Stranger You And I” and the acoustic-based “Cue The Sun.”

On writing “Cue The Sun,” Choi says, “I didn’t think it would end up on the CD but I’m really happy it is now. We really needed a quiet song because all the other songs are dense with instruments. It’s about leaving home and not being ready to give up everything in your personal life. You’re changing as a person and not enjoying the way you’re changing, it’s just helplessness, I guess.”

The album’s title was inspired by Choi’s favorite poem by Robert Frost. “That poem to me sums up life, growing up and the moments you feel when you’re alone,” says Choi. “It’s complicated, but it’s a pretty dark album. And I think a lot of the songs wrap around those ideas.”

Shortly after the completion of Good Night, Witness Light, longtime bassist Jason Call exited the band on good terms to pursue school and mission work.

With another album under their collective belts, the members of Daphne Loves Derby will head back out on the road, hopefully feeling a bit more deserving of the success and respect of their peers that they’ve attained. After all, an album like Good Night, Witness Light should be the confidence boost that Daphne Loves Derby needs.

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Coming soon: Name Taken live from Chain Reaction. Meet the fans, watch the interview and hear the music.

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Ozma - Live Indie Rock Music from Chain Reaction

The contemporary acts that come up most in comparison to Ozma are Smashing Pumpkins, Weezer, Nirvana, etc. though if you ask the band members about influences, you’ll probably hear such infamous names as Chick Corea, Elvis Costello, Boston, Depeche Mode, and the Beatles. Brummel, Slegr, and Galvez (the three songwriters) work towards the same artistic goals set by their predecessors: writing dynamic, lyrically interesting, and melodically memorable songs. They have been fortunate enough to be able to learn their trades firsthand from the best - previous recordings have been produced by Jason Cropper (formerly of Weezer) and Rod Cervera (The Rentals) - but they have never let go of their original and innovative approach to harmony and song arrangement, apparent both in epics like “Battlescars” and revved-up speed jams like “In Search of 1988″ and “Rocks.”

Ozma has gained a reputation as a band that must be heard in a live setting if their unique brand of orderly chaos is to be thoroughly understood. As a result of this reputation, Ozma has been given slots on high profile bills, including CD release parties for Nerf Herder and Nada Surf. After several California shows as the sole opening act for Weezer, performing for huge summer audiences including a sellout hometown crowd at Hollywood’s Whisky A Go-Go, Weezer’s front man Rivers Cuomo confessed in an interview with a Texas newspaper: [Ozma is] my favorite new band. I certainly hope to tour with them.”
Ozma is currently out on tour with The Rentals.

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Coming soon: Christian punk rock band - “Hawk Nelson” live from Chain Reaction. Meet the fans, watch the interview and hear the music.

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