the alterna-indie folk-punk revolution begins!

for those of you who don't know me, i am a huge bob dylan fan. listening to him really opened up my entire musical repertoire and made me appreciate not only folk but other styles as well. in the end however, folk has really dominated my listening tastes in the past eight to ten years. i find myself always draw to the acoustic stylings and what they are able to do with the simplistic instruments and interesting tones. in the past few years indie music, punk music, and folk music have come together to form a new style that isn't easily definable. this has become one of my favorite styles of music in the past few years and more bands are popping up and taking this new/old style to new levels. the first band i heard that i think really typifies this style is murder by death. they are a perfect example of the punk traditions added to the folk styling and they rock hard! the avett brothers were the next band i heard that i felt really grasped the feeling of this new indie music and they make folky-punk awesome! the felice brothers have a similar sound to the avett brothers but really amp up the punk feeling by making things chaotic. the two new additions to this music are mumford and sons and river city extension. mumford and sons have the banjo and acoustic attack with the passionate vocals that tend to typify this style while river city extension adds in a brass sound to make things even more interesting.

murder by death












the avett brothers












the felice brothers












mumford and sons












river city extension












so this post got me to thinking, if i were to form an epic alterna-indie folk-punk band along with some famous (or maybe not so famous) musicians, what would it look like? what follows would be my dream band of this style if i could choose from anyone anywhere...

myself - lead vox, acoustic/electric guitars, harmonica
aaron sprinkle (solo, fair, poor old lu) - acoustic/electric guitars, bgv's
the edge (u2) - electric guitar, bgv's
bela fleck (bela fleck & the flecktones) - banjo
chris thile (solo, nickel creek, punch brothers) - mandolin, bgv's
mike herrera (mxpx, the cooties) - bass guitar, bgv's
norah jones (solo, the little willies) - piano, bgv's
jenny conlee (the decemberists) - hammond b3, keyboards
mike marsh (dashboard confessional) - drums
rashawn ross (studio session work, dave matthews band) - trumpet
lee loughnane (chicago) - trumpet
jeff coffin (bela fleck & the flecktone, dave matthews band) - sax, clarinet, flute
sara watkins (solo, nickel creek) - violin, fiddle, bgv's
sarah balliet (murder by death) - cello, bgv's
karen bernquist (over the rhine) - bgv's
sarah jarosz (solo) - bgv's

so there it is. i know what you're saying, "aaron that is way too many people." i beg to differ! what i have created is the ultimate epic alterna-indie folk-punk band! the epic sounds would never stop and would create an awesome wall of sound to rival the greatest music ever created! mwa ha ha ha ha...

okay...that rant is over now. now i am going to list the band that i would create with friends and people i have known and/or played with in the past is some form or another. i can't even promise that some of these people even play their instrument any more, but hey, that's what fantasy is about right? here goes...

myself - lead vocals, electric/acoustic guitars, mandolin, harmonica
josh jacoby - electric/acoustic guitars, banjo, mandolin
matthew gromis - electric guitar
jenny fretz - acoustic guitar, bgv's
kevin ward - bass guitar
kaley keener - piano, bgv's
kathrin thawley - hammond b3, keyboards, bgv's
adam rohrer - drums, bgv's
matthew wertz - trumpet
bradley gromis - trumpet
katie huston - clarinet
andy fretz - cello
amanda vining - bgv's
tara towner - bgv's
emily mcallister (soon to be rohrer!) - bgv's

i know all of you are looking at that list and saying, "seriously?" yes seriously! how awesome and epic would we be! i believe we will be called "the epic revolution." plus we would take over the world, mwa ha ha ha ha! okay, enough evil, taking-over-the-world laughs. let me know what ya think people! till next time, rock 'n' roll!

the epic revolution