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TELEMETRIC abuses technology for the sake of making music
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Telemetric is (from L to R): Steve McAnulla, vocals; Byron "Cerebus" Huber, bass; Joe Wallingford, guitar; Brian Frahm, guitar; and Nick Combs, drums.
Photo courtesy of Telemetric
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Telemetric: to send data through wires. That's what the band, Telemetric, did on their computers from home for three months until they met and jammed in person. This, drummer Nick Combs describe as "a cosmic everyday thing."
The CD representing the culmination of work Telemetric has so far put into this cosmic happening will be released at a party Saturday, Sept. 20 at Studio 24 in Independence, Mo. The band recently received a favorable plug for its self-produced debut album, "Invisible," when Kansas City DJ Don Jantzen played two of the songs from the album on his local music show on KQRC 98.9-FM, The Rock.
"For this first album I tried to let lyrics come naturally, instead of having a pre-conceived concept," Steve McAnulla, vocalist, said. "I did not go into a single song with a concept. I pretty much just hit record and sang what was on my mind.
"I would get a rough sketch of lyrics by just feeling it out - singing my thoughts then refine them later. When I was feeling an empty place in my chest from my many failed relationships, ŒSubmission' and ŒComa' surfaced," McAnulla said.
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Saturday, Sept. 20, 2003
Telemetric CD Release party for "Invisible" with / Swill / Wicked Spectrum / Downfall Theory @ Studio 24, Sugar Creek, MO :: 9p, 21+
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McAnulla said he is most proud of "Foundation" and "Pipedream," which are both about his music and childhood. While McAnulla said he is normally not very political in nature, he thinks even the most sheltered people in this country, including himself, were affected by the Sept. 11 attacks. The song "3.0" reflects the game of big business through televised war.
"It's sort of a cry out to the world to stop feeding on the tragedies of real people exploited by television and instead to do something to change the direction humanity is headed lately," he said. "We have become desensitized to reality because we can turn it on or off by using a remote control."
These Kansas natives' cosmic story goes like this: Guitarist Joe Wallingford, already knowing guitarist Brian Frahm for ten years, e-mailed McAnulla in response to a classified advertisement in RockKansas.com. McAnulla had already been talking to Combs, who he had also met on the site.
"It was sketchy at first, almost like internet dating," McAnulla said.
Within 72 hours they had three songs laid out. This was partially due to the music Wallingford had been composing and saving on his hard drive for two years.
Telemetric's goal was to do the whole recording process itself. Without having enough quality microphones or a powerful enough sound card to do the drums, they went to Airborne Audio in Lenexa. The band told Airborne Audio they wanted to record raw drum tracks which were to be filed on CDs.
The drum tracks were completed in six hours. Wallingford and Frahm recorded their guitar and bass tracks at home. Instead of using microphones, they used a Line 6 Pod guitar processor to record directly into the PC. The entire recording process took about five weeks. The recording cost Telemetric about $1300.
The enhanced portion of "Invisible" contains 80 minutes of video, close to 200 photos, song lyrics and the band's personal thank-you notes.
On the surface, the band's meeting could be defined as cosmic. Telemetric's music, however, is not cosmic in sound. The band draws influences from acts such as Tool, A Perfect Circle and Pink Flloyd for a heavy but mainstream sound. McAnulla writes the majority of the band's lyrics.
Byron "Cerebus" Huber recently joined the band on bass. Telemetric is seeking management, and expects its next CD to be released in six to eight months.
Wallingford said his philosophy about band life and music comes from Nietzsche, who said, "Without music, life would be a mistake."
 www.telemetricband.com
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