NFINITY used to be STIFF BOURBON
under which they released a brilliant CD titled 'From out of
nowhere'. This CD is also out under the new bandname NFINITY.
Musically they play Classic 80s AOR in the style of JOURNEY,
SURVIVOR, SAVANNAH, SIGNAL... NFINITY is one of the top indie AOR
Bands around these days and it wouldn't surprise me if they would
release their material through one of the bigger AOR labels over
here. Below you can read an interview I had with NFINITY members
Jess Curtindale - lead singer, Michael Clothier - lead/rhythm
guitar and background vocals, and Michael Proctor (mostly lyrics
these days). Here's what they had to say...
Tell us about the
beginning, what did you do before the STIFF BOURBON CD?
Jesse - Before Nfinity I collaborated
with a friend of mine Brian Ray and we just wrote songs and
performed locally as a duet. Then afterwards I hooked up with
some guys to form a band called Poets Crown, which included Glenn
Scott and Alan Hetland of Nfinity. From there that’s how the
band got formed, we went looking for a new guitar player and
that’s where we met Michael.
Michael C – Yeah, that’s right,
I went to a local show one night and went backstage to meet the
band and literally ran into Jesse who the standing behind the
door when I opened it (BAM). (Everyone laughs) It just so happens
that Jesse and Glenn were they’re looking for a guitar
player. After talking for a little bit I told them I had a tape
out in my truck and we all went outside to listen to it.
Jesse – Glenn and I were blown
away by what we heard; I mean Michael can really rock a guitar.
Then three weeks later we were in a small 16-track studio
recording our first three songs together. One of those songs,
“Standing in the Darkness”, was eventually rerecorded
for the new CD.
Michael P – I guess that’s
where I come in. Well before Nfinity, Michael and I played guitar
together, actually Michael was one of my teachers and my favorite
guy to jam with. So the day after they recorded those first
songs, Michael came over to my house to show me some really cool
stuff that he was doing with a bunch of guys he just met. There
were three songs on the demo tape and they all blew me away. I
told him that I would like to come meet the band and bring my
guitar and maybe jam with them some night. We all fit together so
well that night, I mean it was real chemistry and lot of
fun. They asked me to join the band that night.
When did
you form STIFF BOURBON and tell us all about the band name
problems?
Michael P – OK, I guess I need to
answer this one because I caused the problem. Before we made the
CD we were called “Reunion” and there is a song named
that on the CD because it is our theme song. But some of us
weren’t too attached to “Reunion” and the others
really didn’t care too much either way so I suggested that
we change it to Infinity because it sounded cooler. So we mailed
out a demo tape to all the record companies and they all sent us
basically a form letter politely telling us that our music
sucked. We were all pretty confused by this because when we
performed live the fans really get into our music and tell us
they love our sound.
Then one day I was
browsing the web while at work (yeah wasting time) and I found
this really cool site called MP3.com where thousands of bands had
their music out there without record companies deciding their
fate. So I uploaded a couple of songs from the CD and found out
that there was a band already named Infinity on the site and they
wouldn’t let two bands have the same name. I just made up
Stiff Bourbon off the top of my head because I knew no one would
ever name their band Stiff Bourbon and I really wanted to get the
music out there to see what might happen. Then the rest of the
guys found out about this and were not very happy with the name,
well except for Jesse, he actually liked it but he is kind of
weird like that. So I suggested playing with the spelling to
Nfinity, which is the name we are now going with and you will
find out on MP3.com today.
The CD contains some
classic 80s AOR rock from a very high quality, how come you guys
aren't signed yet?
Jesse – It’s a matter of
supply and demand. We have only been heard locally, which is the
beautiful state of Washington in the USA. But thank god for the
Internet and sites like MP3.com. Having an international medium
on which to get our music to people like our new fans at
Strutter'zine would never have happened if it weren’t for
the changes in the ways that music is made available to listeners
around the world.
Michael P – Thanks for the
compliment, really. After having all those U.S. record labels
tell us that our sound would never sell it is very nice to hear
that there are fans in Europe who really appreciate the classic
80s AOR sound. I guess we should try some European labels and see
what they think.
Did you know your kind
of music has a very huge underground scene in Europe right now?
Jesse – No, in fact that made my
year, a real dream come true for me to hear that.
Michael P – There is a huge
underground scene in Europe for our kind of music. J Actually, we
were completely surprised to hear this.
Michael C – We’re packing our
bags right now.
What bands/artists
influenced you?
Jesse - Paul Rodgers from Bad Company,
Brad Delp from Boston, and especially Rob Halford from Judas
Priest. Their soul and vocal techniques are always in the back of
my mind when I perform.
Michael C – For me its Styx and
Boston. These bands really had something to say, there was
meaning behind each song.
Michael P – Well I like all of those
bands too, but since I have become more the lyricists than
anything else, I would have to say Neil Peart of RUSH, who has
recently been going through some very tragic moments in his life
(Neil, my thoughts are with you and the world patiently awaits
your return). When you read the imagery he uses and the
complexity of the philosophy behind them, you can’t help but
be humbled. I aspire to develop my own style along the same
lines, but Nfinity isn’t really the type of music for it. So
I will just express myself through poetry that I mostly keep to
myself. There are two poems I wrote for the CD on the inside
jacket though, “Walls” and “Destiny”.
Your music
is very 80s AOR typed, do you think this genre will become as
popular as it once was in The States back then?
Jesse – The music was never
intended for a genre or a particular audience, we love what we
write and play it mostly for ourselves and if others like it,
GREAT! This music comes from deep inside us and it flows out the
way it does because we are artists and this is one of the ways we
learned to express ourselves. As far as it coming back into
popularity in the US, I really don’t know, I hope so.
Michael C – I think if we had a goal,
it might have been that we are trying to create is timeless music
and not what the market or the record companies would demand from
us.
Michael P - I agree. It is my belief that
record companies, at least the ones in the US, are the thought
police of sound. They arrogantly decide what the next sound is
and only sign bands to fulfill their own selfish goals. The idea
that fans purely drive the music industry has long since died due
to their continued intrusion and I think that is a real crime.
Jesse – So Mike why don’t
you tell us what you really think.
Do you know other new
bands playing your kind of music?
Michael C – Not to our knowledge.
Most of the bands in our area are still producing the grunge
sound, which grew out of Seattle.
Jesse – I think we are very
unique; we have a definite signature to our sound. Although my
signature no one can read, so maybe I should have been a doctor.
Michael P – Definitely not Jesse,
your bedside manor leaves a lot to be desired.
Do you
have any songs that didn't make the album?
Jesse – Yeah, “Where do we
go from here”, “This Kid’s got a play”,
“Renee”, and several more. I don’t think Michael P
liked “This kid’s got to play” though.
Michael P - No, I never did. Jesse that
song sucked! (GRIN)
Michael C – Before we went into the
studio we all sat down and decided which songs we were going to
record because we knew we only had so much money to spend. This
was really hard, there was a lot of great stuff that didn’t
make it.
Have you been writing
new songs already for a future release?
Jesse – I will always write. As
long as I can play my guitar and use my voice there will always
be music to write. Whether or not it reaches the fans of this
style of music is really up to the fans.
Michael C – We were just testing the
waters with “From out of Nowhere’ to see what kind of
interest could be generated. During this project, about ten other
songs were written, just not recorded. There is always a new song
in my head that I want to put to tape. But recording takes time
and money. Recording without a record label backing you
financially and without a top-notch producer guiding you through
the process is very hard to do.
Michael P – Tell me about it, eight
songs was all we could afford, I have been eating popcorn ever
since. Actually unless some miracle happens and we sell a lot of
CD’s out on MP3.com or we find a label for our music, I am
not sure how long it will be until we have enough money to record
the other songs we have.
What are the plans for
the coming months?
Jesse – I’ll need to fix all
my appliances that stopped working because of Y2K.
Michael C – What did you say Jesse?
You freak! (they both laugh)
Michael P - I am pretty busy with my day
job where I work for a software company called TeamVision. I
don’t even have time to do much anything else but work
really, but I sneak in time to write lyrics and poetry.
And finally what is
your opinion on mp3.com, how did you get there and what is the
future for the music industry with a brilliant site like this.
Michael C – Bands that have a lot to
contribute to the scene wouldn’t be heard without the
changes that are taking place because of MP3.com. Cheers!
Michael P- I may have hinted earlier
about my feelings for the record labels. But I am so excited by
the changes that are taking place because of the web in general
and MP3.com is one of the great success stories out there,
especially for musicians and fans. Finally there is a free and
open forum for people to get together and share music and
opinions without the “big brother” of the labels
monitoring and controlling our choices.
Jesse – MP3.com kicks ass.
Finally something to let the little guy compete with the
^&&(*(*(#^$ machine. I could go on standing on my
soapbox, but Mike already did so I won’t. THANKS MP3.com!
Anything to add to my
readers?
Michael C – Enjoy the music and we
hope you a chance to get a little closer to who we are through
our CD.
Jesse – Thanks to all the fans
that gave us a chance, listened to our music, and bought it. You
are the whole reason we do this stuff, really.
Michael P – I guess I should add
that because of the name change issue the URL on MP3.com has
changed. We can now be found at http://www.mp3.com/Nfinity Please come check out our music
and write us an email to 
tell us what you think, we love hearing from you
and we answer all of our email. You can directly email us at Nfinityusa@netscape.net Thanks!
Thanks for
the interview.
Jesse – It’s been cool. I
hope we get a chance to come back again some time soon.
Michael C – (Nods) Thank you very
much.
Michael P – Actually the thanks is
all ours, you are very gracious to have given us this
opportunity. Peace.
WEBSITE NFINITY
REVIEW CD NFINITY
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