The Rocturnals (formerly known as

KansasCali KansasCali is an alternative rock group that was formed in 1999 and composed of rapper Aulsondro "Novelist" Hamilton, also known as Emcee N.I.C.E. and singer Anderson "Pittboss" Johnson originally an R&B/hip hop duo before adding guitarist/drumm ...

) is an American

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

band from

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. Formed in 2003, the band has five members, lead vocalist A. Johnson, lead vocalist-rapper Aulsondro Hamilton, lead guitarist Tristan Cannizarro, rhythm guitarist Adam Crow, and drummer Eric Borders. The band's mainstream debut came as KansasCali in 2004, when the song "If I..." appeared on both the soundtrack and DVD of the 2005

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning movie, '' Crash.'' The music video also featured in the "Special Features" section of the DVD and appeared on the

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

, '' Crash: Music from and Inspired by Crash''.

Biography

Following the band's success with ''Crash'', it was invited to feature on the soundtrack for '' Mr. & Mrs. Smith''. The band responded with a more mid-

tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...

song, in comparison to "If I...", entitled, "If I Never See You Again". The band's soundtrack success led them to be selected by Tamara Coniff, former editor-in-chief of ''Billboard'' magazine, as the opening band for ''

Billboard's ''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to the ...

'' 1st Annual

Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards The Billboard Digital Entertainment Awards are awards for excellence on the Internet presented annually. Categories include websites, games, music, radio service, Visionary of the Year, and Innovator of the Year. Editions 2004 2004 was t ...

. The band was subsequently selected to appear on four other movie soundtracks: ''

Haven Haven or The Haven may refer to: * Harbor or haven, a sheltered body of water where ships can be docked Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Haven (Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter), from the novel series * Haven (comics), from the ''X-Men ...

,'' a 2004 action movie starring

Orlando Bloom Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He made his breakthrough as the character Legolas in The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series (2001–03). He reprised his r ...

and

Zoe Saldana Zoe or variants may refer to: People * Zoe (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** Zoë (British singer) (Zoë Pollock, born 1969) ** Zoë (Austrian singer) (Zoë Straub, born 1996) Arts and entertainment ...

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

's '' Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos'', about New York's soccer team, '' Kickin It Old Skool'' a comedy starring

Jamie Kennedy James Harvey Kennedy (born May 25, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. In film, Kennedy played Randy Meeks in the ''Scream'' film series (1996–2000), which saw him as a supporting character in the first and third installments and a le ...

and

Bobby Lee Robert Young Lee Jr. (born September 17, 1971) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. Lee co-hosts the podcasts Bad Friends (podcast), ''Bad Friends'' with Andrew Santino and ''TigerBelly'' with Khalyla Kuhn. From 2001 to 2009, ...

, and John Feal's documentary ''Save The Brave''.

DVD controversy

The band's appearance on the ''Crash'' DVD did not occur without controversy.

Bird York Kathleen "Bird" York is an American actress, screenwriter, and Oscar-nominated singer-songwriter recording artist. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for " In the Deep" from the 2004 film '' Crash.'' Life and career ...

, who created the movie's theme song, "

In the Deep "In the Deep" is a 2003 song written by Michael Becker and Kathleen York, performed by York under her stage name Bird York. The song gained fame from its use in the 2004 critically acclaimed film '' Crash''; it also appeared on York's album ''T ...

", but did not feature on the DVD, complained about the band's inclusion. York communicated with

Lionsgate Lions Gate, Lion Gate or similar terms may refer to: Gates *Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the ancient Hittite city of Hattusa, now in Turkey *Lion Gate, one of the entrances to the gardens of Hampton Court Pala ...

Bob Yari Bob Yari (; born May 30, 1961) is an Iranian-born American film producer and director. Biography Yari was born to a Jewish family in Tehran, Iran. He grew up in New York City, and studied film in Santa Barbara. Yari has produced numerous award ...

and Superb Records and requested to have the band's song removed, and it subsequently did not appear in the director's cut version of the DVD.

Discography

Songs and albums

Television Show Songs

Current members

* A. "Pittboss" Johnson – lead vocals, singer (2000–present) * Aulsondro "Novelist" Hamilton – lead vocals,

rapper Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing ...

(2000–present) * Eric "E" Borders – drummer (2004–present) * Adam "Crow" – guitarist (2006–present) * Tristan "Trist" Cannizarro– lead guitarist (2010–present)

References

External links

The Rocturnals Official Site – Black Casino Music & Entertainment
* * * * Interviews

Interview in ''The List Magazine (Music/sports/fashion/scene)'' April 2011

Interview in ''

Las Vegas Review-Journal The ''Las Vegas Review-Journal'' is a daily subscription newspaper published in Las Vegas, Nevada, since 1909. It is the largest circulating daily newspaper in Nevada and one of two daily newspapers in the Las Vegas area. The ''Review-Journal' ...

'' February 2011

Interview in ''Nine5Four The Magazine''

Interview in ''Blacktree Media'', February 2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Rocturnals Musical groups established in 2003 Musical groups from Las Vegas