Wednesday Artist Spotlight: Syd

By | November 12, 2008

Syd opened for Hanson in Boston, MA on November 4, 2005 on their Live & Electric tour.

<img src=”http://a435.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/87/l_f073f526cc98215bc12b9d6e51085992.jpg”.

Where is your band based out of?

I’m from Vermont originally and split my time between the east and west coast and my band is primarily on the east coast. haha, I’m hard to pin down.

Can you give us a little background on the band?

Sure, yeah, I started playing gigs in college which was *gulp* about 8 years ago now, got swept out on tour during school and right out of school and basically never looked back, I was doing around 200-300 shows a year! I started out as a more acoustic based singer/songwriter with a band just because that’s what I got stuck doing and with my last record let the floodgates open up and strapped on an electric guitar and now I feel more 100% true to myself when I get on stage. Which is the way it ought to feel! That record got picked up by a small independent record label and is getting re-released next week (10/14) actually!

What made you decide to enter Hanson’s opening act contest?

It was a *complete* whim. A friend of mine forwarded me the email and I just uploaded my stuff and sort of forgot about it.

What were your expectations before opening? Were they met?

Well, I had played some shows with Pat McGee before and he was a really nice guy and I just hoped to be treated with respect and maybe get a chance to talk with the guys a little bit. I was also hoping the fans didn’t hate me. hahah. I pulled up to the club and there were lines out the door hours before doors and I was like “woah, these guys have still got it!”–I got in and chatted for actually quite a while with Isaac who was very cool. Then I heard their sound check and was surprised at how extremely tight they are! Forgive me for being one of the guys that heard mmmbop so many years ago and never heard from them again, but when I heard their new stuff I was excited for their show. They totally delivered. And by the way, the crowd was *awesome* to me. Really paid attention and gave me all their support. That was most excellent.

Since opening, what has your band been up to?

Touring, recording, writing! I’ve recently started a small record label and been producing records for other friends of mine–actually something Isaac and I had talked briefly about. The label is called The Co-Op and you can find it online at co-opsounds.com. Lisa Piccirillo and Patrick Thomas are the two artists on the label now and we’re looking to bring more folks on board in the new year.

Do you have any upcoming shows?

Why yes I do, thank you for asking. I’m playing the following shows:

November 14, 2008, 9:00 pm
Castelton State College
Castleton, VT

November 20, 2008, 9:00 pm
Lake Forest College
Lake Forest, IL

Syd

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