Big City Rock was an American

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, United States, who were signed to

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. Their music type is self-described as "energetic, anthemic pop" with "an uplifting sound", with keyboards,

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, and

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

. Due to shifts in the band's membership, the remaining members of the group created a new band called The Remainers.

History

Tim Resudek, Frank Staniszewski, Jeff Conrad and Nate Bott, who grew up together in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

started a

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band in eighth grade named Stinkfish. Bott, Conrad and Staniszewski later started another band, The Siren Six!, when they moved to

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

. Siren Six! broke up in 2000 after they moved to California to try to get signed to a

music label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and t ...

. Big City Rock started when Resudek was asked to join Staniszewski, Conrad and Bott in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 2003, drummer Jeff Conrad left to join the band

Phantom Planet Phantom Planet is an American Rock music, rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1994. The band consists of Alex Greenwald (vocals, rhythm guitar), Darren Robinson (lead guitar), Sam Farrar (bass guitar) and Jeff Conrad (drums). The band is bes ...

, and was replaced by Kaumyar. In March 2004 guitarist Andy Barr, who had played with Kaumyar before, joined also in 2004. Signed to Atlantic in late 2004 after having opened for

Gratitude Gratitude, thankfulness, or gratefulness is a feeling of appreciation (or similar positive response) by a recipient of another's kindness. This kindness can be gifts, help, favors, or another form of generosity to another person. The word come ...

, Rooney, Phoenix, and

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...

, in 2005, the band relocated to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

to record their debut album at Stratosphere Studios. Big City Rock's debut album was released on Atlantic Records in March 2006 and generated critical acclaim. Blender magazine gave the album 3.5 stars proclaiming it "... like

the Killers The Killers are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After the band went through a number of short-term bas ...

without the self-consciousness, powered by exquisitely engineered hooks that are nearly impossible to forget." And placing the song "All of the Above" at the number 10 slot of their annual Top 100 Singles chart. Throughout 2006, Big City Rock toured across the country, supporting acts like

Morningwood Morningwood was an alternative rock band from New York City. Founded in 2001, it primarily consisted of Pedro Yanowitz and Chantal Claret. Morningwood was signed to Capitol Records and released two albums. Claret went solo in 2012 and folded t ...

Rock Kills Kid Rock Kills Kid was an American art punk/alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California that consisted of Jeff Tucker (guitar and vocals), Shawn Dailey (bass), Sean Stopnik (guitar), Reed Calhoun (keyboards/vocals), and Mike Balboa (drums). ...

, Under The Influence of Giants,

Sugarcult Sugarcult was an American rock band from Santa Barbara, California, formed in 1998. The band consisted of Tim Pagnotta (vocals, rhythm guitar), Airin Older (bass), Marko DeSantis (lead guitar), and Kenny Livingston (drums). History Formation ...

Head Automatica Head Automatica is an American rock band from Brooklyn, New York fronted by Glassjaw frontman Daryl Palumbo. History Formation, ''Decadance'' and ''Popaganda'' (2003–2006) The beginnings of the band stemmed from singer Daryl Palumbo' ...

Diamond Nights Diamond Nights is a hard rock/indie rock band whose influences include Thin Lizzy, Queen, and Cheap Trick. They formed in New York City in 2003, and released their debut album ''Popsicle'' in 2005. The band's song "The Girl's Attractive" was fe ...

The Rocket Summer The Rocket Summer is the solo project of Bryce Avary, a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and record producer based in Dallas–Fort Worth, Texas. He has released eight studio albums and several EPs. His fifth release, 2012's '' Lif ...

Jason Mraz Jason Thomas Mraz ( ; born June 23, 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He rose to prominence with the release of his debut studio album, ''Waiting for My Rocket to Come'' (2002), which spawned the single "The Remedy (I Won't Wo ...

, and

The Click Five The Click Five (often abbreviated as TC5) is an American rock band from Boston, Massachusetts. The original members, most of them students at Berklee College of Music, started on January 1, 2004, and played in various local venues. They then q ...

. In 2008, Big City Rock underwent personnel changes and began writing their follow-up album to ''Big City Rock.'' In August 2009, Big City Rock's remaining members created a new band with a new Facebook page, entitled The Remainers.

Final band members

* Nate Bott -

Vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Frank Staniszewski - keyboards,

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

* Jason Lautenschleger -

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

* Kaumyar -

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Former members

* Timothy Resudek - bass * Andrew Barr - guitars * Jeff Conrad - drums (now working with

)

Discography

*''Big City Rock'' (2003) *#"Do You Know What You Want" *#"Here for Each Other" *#"Human" *#"Only If You Want Me To" *#"Better Place" *''Big City Rock'' (2004) *#"Do You Know What You Want" *#"Human" *#"Here for Each Other" *#"Better Place" *#"All the Way coustic *#"Sink" *#"They Won't Mind" *#"Different Face" *''Big City Rock'' (2006) *#"Sink" *#"All of the Above" *#"As Soon As I Find Out" *#"I Believe In You" *#"Human" *#"Kind" *#"Better Place" *#"Shelter" *#"They Won't Mind" *#"Touch The Horizon"

Trivia

*The band recorded a cover of the song "

Black Betty "Black Betty" ( Roud 11668) is a 20th-century African-American work song often credited to Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter as the author, though the earliest recordings are not by him. Some sources say it is one of Lead Belly's many adaptations ...

" for the 2007 film

TMNT ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' (''TMNT'') is an American media franchise created by comic book artists Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird. It follows Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo, four anthropomorphic turtle brothers trained i ...

. *The band also recorded a cover of

Silent Night "Silent Night" () is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO The United Nations Educati ...

during the 2007 holiday season and released it as a single. * "All of the Above" from Big City Rock was featured on the 2006 Bionicle: Free the Band website, as well as songs from Undertones, Over It, Carbon Leaf, and a few others. * "Human" was used in the 2006 Warren Miller Movie "Off The Grid" - It was used in a section about 2 skiers (Kevin Bramble and Monte Meier) with disabilities (one paralyzed from the waist down, and one missing one leg) Heliskiing in the Alaskan Cugache mountain range.

Equipment

Frank Staniszewski uses a

Nord Lead The Nord Lead is a series of virtual analog subtractive synthesizers, manufactured by Clavia. Released in 1995, the original Nord Lead popularized the term "virtual analog synthesis". The phrase was coined by Clavia at the release of the Nord L ...

2 synth,

MicroKORG The microKORG is a MIDI-capable digital synthesizer/vocoder from Korg featuring Digital signal processing, DSP-based virtual analog, analog modelling. The synthesizer is built in such a way that it is essentially a Korg MS-2000 with a programmab ...

and

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: People * Torakusu Yamaha, a Japanese businessman and founder of the Yamaha Corporation Companies * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese musical instrument and audio equipment manufacturer ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organi ...

S90 as well as using

Hammond Hammond may refer to: People * Hammond Innes (1913–1998), English novelist * Hammond (surname) * Justice Hammond (disambiguation) Places Antarctica * Hammond Glacier, Antarctica Australia *Hammond, South Australia, a small settlement in Sout ...

B3 organs and various grand pianos in the studio. Nate Bott uses Fender Deville amplifiers with no effects pedals. He uses

Fender Stratocaster The Fender Stratocaster, colloquially known as the Strat, is a model of double- cutaway electric guitar designed between 1952 and 1954 by Leo Fender, Bill Carson, George Fullerton, and Freddie Tavares. The Fender Musical Instruments Corpora ...

and

Fender Jaguar The Fender Jaguar is an electric guitar by Fender Musical Instruments characterized by an offset-waist body, a relatively unusual switching system with two separate circuits for lead and rhythm, and a short-scale 24" neck. Owing some roots to th ...

guitars. Jason Lautenschleger uses

Ampeg Ampeg ("amplified peg") is a manufacturer best known for its bass amplifiers. Originally established in 1946 in Linden, New Jersey by Everett Hull and Stanley Michaels as "Michael-Hull Electronic Labs," today Ampeg is part of the Yamaha Guit ...

amplifiers and Ampeg cabinets and plays

Fender Precision The Fender Precision Bass (or "P-Bass") is a model of electric bass guitar manufactured by Fender Musical Instruments Corporation. In its standard, post-1957 configuration, the Precision Bass is a solid body, four-stringed instrument usually equ ...

and Music Man Stingray basses Kaumyar plays

Pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living Exoskeleton, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pear ...

Drums and

Zildjian The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian (), is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded by the ethnic Armenian Zildjian family in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, the com ...

cymbals with the exception of his

Paiste Paiste (English pronunciation: , ) is a Switzerland, Swiss musical instrument manufacturing company. It is the world's third largest manufacturer of cymbals, gongs, and metal percussion. is an Estonian language, Estonian and Finnish language, ...

Hi-Hats.

References

External links

Myspace PageFacebook PageVirb PageFlickr PageGoogle Music discography
{{Authority control Atlantic Records artists Musical groups from Los Angeles American power pop groups Musical groups established in 2001 2001 establishments in California