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How did the band get started and please provide a brief band history?

Bo Carper, Jeff Miller and Phil Ferlino had known each other through attending Penn State. In 1997 Jeff moved out to California and hooked up with Bo who had moved out to a coastal town called Bolinas a few years prior. They played as a guitar duet at first performing at venues such as Sweetwater in Marin County. Heath Carlisle (a former bandmate of Jeff at Penn State) joined the duo in San Francisco shortly thereafter and became the bass player and vocalist. Gradually they added the percussionists Rajiv Parikh, Marty Ylitalo and Brian Carey. Phil finally moved out in the summer of 2001, just in time to perform his first show with the band at High Sierra Music Festival. They played regionally until January of 2003 when they started touring nationally. Heath left the band in December 2003. The vocal duties were picked up by primarily Jeff and Phil (with other band members doing more vocals also) and the bass duties were picked up in the spring of 2004 by the current bassist Ben Bernstein.

How would you describe your new album?

"The Sound" is a landmark effort in several ways. First being that it's the first studio album with producers and engineers that are not band members. Michael Shrieve (known for his drumming with Santana and many other world class artists) and Paul Kimble (member of Grant Lee Buffalo and also producer and engineer of many other projects including his own) were the producers. We also recorded in professional studios (In The Pocket and Hyde Street) whereas our previous albums (with the exception of "Live at Telluride") were recorded with our own gear and self produced. The music on the record is a collection of primarily vocal songs with a few instrumentals. It's "harder edged" than previous efforts with emphasis on tighter arrangements and layers of sound. We used the tools available to create a sonic journey ranging from heavy guitars, subtle acoustic instruments, grand piano and a wide variety of percussion and dynamic textures. The lyrical content is also darker than previous efforts with subject matter ranging from tales-of-the-road to socio-political themes to introspective feelings.

Is there any one band/artist that serves as a guidance or inspiration?

Due to the instrumentation of our group (3 percussionists), Santana would appear at the top of the list...that being said they is a long list of influences on us as a band and individually.

Which song or album from history do you most wish you wrote or played?

Led Zeppelin 3.

What are five heavily played tracks on your ipod or 5 CDs in your rotation right now?

On our last tour, songs from Audioslave, Jonas Hellborg, Queens of the Stone Age, Black eyed Peas, and Shakti were on heavy rotation each member in the band has widely varying tastes.

Most classic memory from being on the road?

Marty holding Michael Shrieve's Woodstock drum in Michael's basement

Most memorable on-stage moment so far?

Many moments for each member from the "Big Summer Classic" tour this past summer...and Michael and Chepito Areas from Santana playing with us in Chicago a few tours ago

Who would you most like to open or play with?

Santana, Black Crowes, Pearl Jam...to name a few

Earliest music memory or concert experience?

Each member would have a different answer to this..Jeff's was seeing Stevie Ray Vaughn at the Syria Mosque in Pittsburgh

If you weren't playing music, what would you most likely be doing?

Jeff- doing anything in Hawaii
Bo- Repairing Diesel engines
Marty-Snowboarding out of a helicopter
Phil- designing a new space station for NASA
Brian- becoming a full time member of Buena Vista Social Club
Raja- Movie star in Bali
Ben- Door to door vacuum cleaner salesman