(original post April 9/2010)
Are you ready to get lifted, The Minor Lift Way? An alternative rock band from New Brunswick, New Jersey who lives up to their namesake to deliver unique and very uplifting tones. I asked Matthew Thompson, Vocalist how he came up with the name and he said “The name is homage to Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” It is a play-on- words referencing the refrain, “It goes like this the fourth the fifth, the minor fall the major lift. The baffled king composing hallelujah . . .” It aptly describes the dissonant nature of the melodies and the music’s intent to rise or “lift” the listener’s spirit. We use the logo of an escalator as well as elevators, stairs and other physical or mechanical “lifts” to further embody the idea”.
The history of the band dates back when Matthew Thompson (Founder and vocalist, guitarist) and The Minor Lifts present Drummer Ahmed Abdur-Rahman Gorham, director for the Rutgers University Marching Band drum line met at Starbucks where they were employed as baristas while attending the famed Rutgers University. Matthew had already been playing the acoustic guitar at local coffee houses and local basement poetry readings and spoken word events. After a few days at Starbucks the two musicians met and became friends and musical collaborators forming the group Chiaroscuro of whom they both played for about a year. Although the band eventually broke up Matthew and Ahmed continued to write and play together with other groups and as individuals. Matthew was playing with a drummer named Luis Schiancolapore, who presently plays for the band Hurt and thru Luis, Matthew met Phil Bassaragh a highly accomplished bass player and the three of them started to play together as a group. Not long after, Luis could no longer play and when Ahmed offered his services along with his extraordinary style of drumming techniques and The Minor Lift was formed.
About a year ago their close friend Griffin Lotti, lead guitarist for the New York City based band Social Hero, joined the group as their lead guitarist. Although Griffin’s main focus is his band Social Hero, The Minor Lift welcomes his presence and is honoured that he can fill the void until a permanent lead guitarist was found. They will always welcome Griffin to accompany them on stage any time in the future and will continue to support each other with open arms. Their newest band member an extremely talented Lead Guitarist who also is the bands recording engineer who works for The Fallout Entertainment Group’s Ark Recording Studio is an added bonus for the band. Mike brings along a wealth of talent and the short few weeks that he has been with the band he has superseded his goals in meshing and learning the groups live performance catalog for the last round of the Break Contest on April 18 2010 at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ, winners will play Bamboozle at the Meadowlands Sports Complex on May 1st and May 2nd . Mike will be debuted as the latest member of the band at the Stone Pony and I am sure all of their fans will be in for a pleasant surprise among the other surprises they have in store for them attending this important event that could catapult them into the future.
With the upcoming events Mike and Matthew have been practicing together as often as possible while attending to their own hectic lives with band rehearses two to three times a week honing their natural talents into a fine tuned performance that will not let the audience leave without that “lifted” spirit this band has known to become.
Matt Thompson told me “We are really excited about Bamboozled and any opportunities that come in the future. We all live to write and play music and enjoy nothing more than playing live. The competition, as well as the recording process, has harnessed our skills and challenged us to make the best decisions for the both the songs and ourselves possible. We have grown even tighter as a group and expect to keep pushing ourselves to improve and expand our craft. We’ve also never had as much fun! “
The Minor lift is not without it’s share of playing before large crowds their largest performance to date has included the popular Starland Ballroom in New Jersey last year at the Battle of the Bands contest final round before a capacity crowd of 1200 enthusiastic fans enjoying the sounds they love to hear. Some of their gigs have included The Annex, CBGB’s, The Pussycat Lounge, Piano’s NYC, The Knitting Factory, The Stone Pony to name a few.
Their influences also run deep wide through various genres of music including Radiohead, Tool, Pink Floyd, 311, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Tortoise, Tristezza, Modest Mouse, God Speed You Black Emperor, Fugazi , Gorillaz, Beck, Jeff Buckley, Soundgarden, King Crimson, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Rolling Stones, Cream and Jimi Hendrix. No wonder this bands ability to play like they do with such a driving force of rock music that it all comes together as they play original tunes like “When it Rains” and “At Both Ends” which can be heard on the bands MySpace
“At Both Ends” Has been officially released and can be downloaded from iTunes and Amazon among other top selling websites.
So far in their short tenure together 11 songs are finished and ready to be recorded for release in the coming months. On top of the already finished songs they have about ten more that they are currently working on for the future once the first 11 songs are released.
As an added bonus of their talents they also have covered bands like Led Zeppelin’s: “Immigrant Song” and “The Ocean” Soundgarden’s “Outshined” Beatles “Hey Jude” and “I Want You” and Stone Temple Pilots “Wicked Garden” as well as many others.
While Matthew Thompson is the main lyricists and song writer, all band members collaborate bringing with them their own musical talents and into the songs they write. Each band member writes music individually and records their ideas on programs like logic, reason, garage band and pro-tools at home. This music collaboration is brought forth and their ideas are worked on for the future songs this band will produce. This type of harmony is what sets this band apart from others is their ability to produce as a tight unit with new ideas instead of trying to write as individualists with out the input from other band members. This type of comradery will keep this band playing and writing together for years to come.
When asked what’s in store for the future plans in evolving into a powerhouse band, Matthew told us “We all take it very seriously and plan on playing music as a career. In the same respect we love what we do and know how to laugh and are adamant that our success directly correlates with our ability to dream big, plan smart, and never loose sight of the moment and our friends and fans.”
To all the future and present fans; Are you ready to get “Lifted”…Join The Minor Lift live at the Stone Pony this April 18th as they are pumped up to get nominated to play Bamboozle on May 1st and 2nd.
Join them on MySpace and Facebook to keep up to date with this newly evolved and talented group.
The Minor Lift
Matthew Thompson: vocals, guitar, keyboards
Ahmed Abdur-Rahman: Percussion, vocals
Philip Bassaragh: Bass
Michael Freedman: guitar
Griffin Lotti: guitar
Upcoming shows:
Round three, the Break Contest, Bamboozled 2010, April 18th, @ The Stone Pony, Asbury Park NJ. @ 8:30pm
Seton Hall University Spring Fling Concert. April 24th, West Orange, NJ 2-5 pm (Band is headlining and scheduled to go on at 4)
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