ONES TO WATCH IN 2014“PENETRALIA”‘Their name means a secret or hidden place. It’s unlikely that they’ll remain hidden for much longer’
Name: “Penetralia”Based: Los Angeles, California, USA
Genres: Post-Hardcore, Alternative Rock
Members: Koda Espinosa, Beau Nero, Gunner Lee, Jonah Espinosa
“The amount of talented unsigned bands in the music industry is remarkable, they tend to surface in the U.S, mostly New York City and California. The east coast tends to attract more of a punk style, while the west coast seems to attract more of the grandiose. That’s the way that it has been for many years and it looks to be the same pattern at the moment. However, stepping out of the smoke and fog of California are a quartet of post-hardcore dudes with big visions for their music. “Penetralia” have played almost every lower-level club in the Los Angeles and Hollywood areas of California, they’ve become an unexpected local favourite in San Diego and have really started to build a rapid reputation amongst the crowds that gather in those areas.
Their mantra is simple, they want to change lives with their music. But you’d be forgiven in automatically assuming that this statement means they are a dour and depressing band, they certainly aren’t The Cure. Nope, when they’re not onstage, you will no doubt find them on the strip of an evening, they like to party hard, the downfall of many a superstar … but they needn’t worry, they aren’t superstars just yet.
The band’s music is written and created for a more epic stage than the ones that they’re currently playing on, the small clubs in California could be seen as the lucky ones to have the band performing at the venues as their star is rapidly rising, the stages will begin to get bigger and the band will start to outgrow these tiny venues. Their music however, will likely remain the same, the riffs provided by the three guitar-toting kids are done to the grandest proportions, there’s a little Zeppelin in each of them, but they can thrash around like the punk greats too if they so wish, they’ve certainly done it before. The draw, the thing that makes them stand-out beyond their underground contemporaries is the majesty and talent of lead vocalist ‘Koda’, he pours himself fully into the lyrics that he writes, it’s often, it’s often angry and it’s often beautiful at the same time but the lyrics are outshone by his vocal delivery, he can scream his lyrics with so much anguish and pain that it hits you instantly, directly into the heart but he has an unbelievably beautiful voice too, he has a tenor, a high-pitched ability that you don’t hear so much of but all of it, is done with emotion.
Guitarist Beau has high expectations for the band in 2014,
“We fully expect to make a name for ourselves in 2014, the aim is always to have as many people hear our music as possible, now we won’t ever be an easily sellable product, that’s just a fact. But we know that our music appeals to a certain group of people and it’s those people that matter to us, the f*ck ups, essentially! We know that our music would appeal to those people because we are those people ourselves, we don’t find our hero’s on the front pages of glossy magazines or feuding with some douchebag kid on twitter, nah, we find our hero’s on the stages, touring like f*cking crazy because of nothing but a love and passion for what they do. That’s not to say we’re gonna be just work, work, work, we will have fun with it. You gotta take everything you can from a moment, because it goes away pretty quickly. So we plan on living to extreme’s while we have the opportunity to do that.”So with ‘Penetralia’ looking to break-out of the underground scene, we can see them becoming something big on the rock circuit in 2014, they too reportedly have a record deal lined-up.
“CHERRI BOMB”‘The biggest wave in Australia at the moment, isn’t in the sea’
Name: “Cherri Bomb”Based: Sydney, Australia
Genres: Pop-Punk, Power-Pop, Alternative Rock
Members: Cori Fisher, Noah Quinn, Joel Pemberton, Calvin Reed, Dean Logan
“It’s always difficult taking those first steps into the music industry, for many high school/college bands, the only option is tour obsessively and this is something that these young Australian pop-punkers have done within their home country. In 2013, ‘Cherri Bomb’ have played almost every small scale festival that would have them, slowly starting to build a fanbase one by one. They’ve also taken on a number of support slots throughout the year, the downside is the fact these enthusiastic youngsters rarely got to play more than three songs in their usual 15 minute time-scale.
But the band, fronted by the blonde-haired scene girl ‘Cori Fisher’, could very much be on the verge of making big waves, (only this time, it won’t just be on the beaches of Australia). They have been watched closely by a number of record labels throughout the past few months as their star seems to be rising very quickly and we’ve been hearing rumours that they have signed their first ever recording contract with a label in the U.S, surely setting them up for 2014 in the most perfect way they could have possibly imagined.
Their songs are fast, direct and very much from the heart. Full of dirty guitar riffs and clashing drums, throw in a vocalist that can provide the mix of rough and tough and soft and vulnerable and you’re sure to have a new favourite band come the New Year, but to band member ‘Noah Quinn’, the rise has been a lot more rapid than expected,
“We are all pretty big dreamers, we’ve been supported by our local community since we started the band. We left college and decided that we’d get a better education on the touring circuit and we feel like it’s already starting to pay-off. We dream big, that’s what it comes down to. We’re an Australian band at the moment and our home country will always be the place most dear in our hearts, but we don’t want to be confined as just a popular band in Australia, we’ve always said that we want to become international and in January 2014, we’re gonna be heading over on our first ever trip to the United States, it’s gonna be an unreal experience but we know that what we want is right in front of us. This trip will be the one that either makes us or breaks us.”The band will be looking to establish themselves in 2014 and will no doubt look at the emerging talents from the rock genre that managed to break through in 2013, acts like Calling Captain, Bath Salts, Vile Hour and Alex Simms to name just a few, will all be the inspiration that could help fire ‘Cherri Bomb’ into the music industry. It’s gonna be an eventful ride from the young Australian quintet, but one they’re sure to enjoy”
