Making April was an American
piano-based 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 formed in
Verplanck, New York, in 2005. The band consisted of vocalist and pianist Sean Scanlon, bassist Gregory Federspiel and guitarist and backing vocalist Steven McCaffrey.
Making April's first songs were released on a demo titled ''My First Demo!'', in 2005. The band self-released their first
EP in 2006, an eight track recording named ''
Runaway World''. The EP was released later in 2006 as a full album in
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, through Radtone Music. In 2008, they signed to
Universal Republic in the USA. The label released a re-recorded version of "These Are the Nights". Making April has previously featured as the #1 Top Unsigned Artist on
Myspace
Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...
.
They have sold over 100,000 tracks on
iTunes
iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...
worldwide.
In September 2009, Scanlon, the lead vocalist, announced that the band would be going on hiatus.
In June 2010 Making April released ''
Lost Sessions'', a collection of unreleased material from their album The Egg Hunt.
The band broke up in 2010, with the band members seeking out new opportunities. They played their last show together in August 2010 in Salt Lake City.
Sean Scanlon now is the lead vocalist of
Smallpools.
Greg Federspiel is now
A&R at
Warner Bros. Records and manager of the band
The Downtown Fiction
The Downtown Fiction was an American rock music, rock band from Fairfax, Virginia, Fairfax, Virginia. The Musical ensemble, band consisted of guitarist and lead vocalist Cameron Leahy, bassist and backing vocalist David Pavluk, guitarist and bac ...
.
History
Formation and early demos
Making April was formed in the dorm room of Sean Scanlon and Steven McCaffrey at
University at Albany, State University of New York, when they began writing together in early 2005. They were joined by friend Greg Federspiel and recorded five demo songs, that would later become the basis of their eight track debut EP ''
Runaway World''. The demos were recorded at Leopard Recording Studio, and self-released under the title ''My First Demo!'' in March 2005.
Federspiel has said that the name of the band came from the members literally trying to 'make April'. "It was March 2005. After recording our first demos in the studio, we were anxious to put them on Pure Volume and MySpace, yet we didn’t have a name. So we sat there thinking that, ‘we need to have a name by April.’ And so that became the theme of things. Once April 1st came, we still didn’t have anything, and it just hit us. We were trying to ‘make April.’"
First EP and record deal
Making April went into record their debut EP in
New Windsor, New York in January 2006 at Nada Recording Studios. The band partially self-produced the record, alongside
producer John Naclerio. The debut EP was titled ''
Runaway World'', in reference to the band's song "Runaway World". The original release contained eight tracks and was released on April 11, 2006. The EP was released in Japan through Radtone Music on November 8, 2006. The Japanese version was noted as a full album, as it contained three additional tracks, "Hurry Up and Wait", "Don't Look Back" (previously from ''My First Demo!'' in 2005) and an acoustic version of "Roses and Butterflies". It was later re-issued in the USA on May 30, 2007, containing only two extra tracks "Hurry Up and Wait" and an acoustic version of title track "Runaway World".
On July 28, 2007, Making April played a showcasing show for labels
Universal Records
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...
,
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 ...
,
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label owned by Universal Music Group. They were originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman (musician), ...
,
MySpace Records and
Capitol Records
Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...
, before eventually signing a contract with
Universal. Making April released a new song on their Myspace soon after the signing of their "singles deal", a demo titled "Wide Awake".
The signing with
Universal Republic enabled the band to produce one single. A re-recorded version of "These Are the Nights", which had previously been selected for usage on
MTV's Laguna Beach,
was released to radio in early 2008.
The single was recorded by
producer David Bendeth
David Jonathan Bendeth (born 17 June 1954) is an English multi-platinum award-winning record producer. He was also the frontman of The Bendeth Band.
Early life
David Bendeth was born on 17 June 1954 in Stoke Newington, Hackney, London, England ...
, who has previously worked with
Paramore
Paramore is an American rock band formed in Franklin, Tennessee, in 2004. Since 2017, the band's lineup includes lead vocalist Hayley Williams, lead guitarist Taylor York, and drummer Zac Farro. Williams and Farro are founding members of ...
,
Red Jumpsuit Apparatus and
Vertical Horizon.
[ It was posted on Myspace in conjunction with the radio release.
]
Debut album
Making April recorded their debut full-length album with producer Adam Richman, at the end of summer 2008. Throughout the entire month of June 2008, to "celebrate writing their debut album", the band gave away their debut EP for free through Myspace. They began recording in August, with the album originally due out "November, early December" of 2008. It was later announced and confirmed that the album would be released on March 3, 2009, and titled ''The Egg Hunt''.
Live
In early 2008, the band supported rock artist Secondhand Serenade with Rookie of the Year, Automatic Loveletter and White Tie Affair, on a two-month national tour of the United States. During live shows, the band has been known to use digital string tracks, with the Apple
An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
computer program GarageBand
GarageBand is a software application by Apple Inc., Apple for macOS, iPadOS, and iOS devices that allows users to create music or Podcast, podcasts. It is a lighter, amateur-oriented offshoot of Logic Pro. GarageBand was originally released for ...
, to create a closer sound to their recorded songs.
The band performed on the Howard Stern show during a segment called "cockyoke".
Members
Current
* Sean Scanlon: Lead vocalist
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...
, piano
A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
, 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 ...
* Gregory Federspiel: 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 ...
* Steven McCaffrey: Lead guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...
, backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
Touring
* Bryan McGrath: 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 ...
(2008)
* Adam Richman: Rhythm guitar
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...
, backing vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...
(2008)
* Brendon Thomas: Rhythm guitar
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...
(2008)
Former
* Thomas Robertine: 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 ...
(2005–2007)
Discography
References
External links
Making April
at Myspace
Making April
at PureVolume
ZDNet FFR Launch Making April Widget
Billboard Underground Interview (Video)
Muscianscast.com Interview With Steve McCaffrey (MP3 Audio)
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Musical groups from New York (state)