Rock quintet Downtread have returned with Stand Your
Ground, a follow-up release to the band's 2010 debut album 144.
Their aim, to continue building a fan base drawn to the music they are
recording, and to simply provoke a response. Vocalist / Guitarist
Brett Petrusek shares, "We fit in our own weird, restless little
spot. We want to provoke an honest response, whatever that is. If
someone gets pissed or happy or bummed out – I don’t care, as long as the music
makes you feel something. That makes the whole journey
worthwhile.”
On the latest leg of their ongoing journey, the band will
continue to build an audience through appearances affording Downtread a higher
profile than the vast majority of their contemporaries in the development phase
of a career. In mixing prime support appearances alongside headline
dates, they will play in front of tens of thousands. Since forming in
2007, and making their first appearance at the Dallas International Guitar Festival, Downtread has appeared on stages that cumulatively placed the band in
front of over a million rock fans. They made the pilgrimage to perform at
Sturgis and Rocklahoma, while also taking the stage in front of Collective
Soul, Whitesnake, Judas Priest, Cheap Trick, Ratt, Bret Michaels, and many
others. They relish the opportunity to connect with fans on the road, and
those travels have been the primary driver in a career that now boasts a large
legion of fans.
The unintentionally provocative title of their second album, Stand
Your Ground, was coined long before headlines ran rampant in news
media. Days before the album was manufactured, the tragic shooting in
Florida pressed the phrase in to the public's consciousness. Petrusek
offers, "It was pretty weird – purely coincidental. We finished
recording the album, chose the title song and completed the artwork. And
then all of a sudden the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law in Florida turns into a major
topic of debate, with people screaming about it on TV. For us, the phrase
isn’t some kind of agro challenge or an excuse to whip out a pistol. We
always thought of it as a patriotic and creative testament: if you’re in
a position to stand your ground, it means you must’ve arrived in the first
place.” He continues, "We don’t have any emphasis on being a political
band, but you can’t go through a day without being bombarded by the media and
world crisis. It’s unavoidable. It all started with ‘Don’t Get
Weak’ which is basically says ‘This whole situation blows, so let’s get
together and kick some ass -- raise a fist and fight for what’s yours.’ I
guess that was a bit of a departure for us and it led to a few more tracks,
including the title track ‘Stand Your Ground’ which sends the message ‘make
this nation strong.’ It’s safe to say that we don’t have uniform
political beliefs in this band,” Petrusek laughs. Bassist / Vocalist
Robert Berg adds, “Different band members are voting for different people.”
Produced, engineered and mixed by Jeremy Tappero, Stand
Your Ground is a locally grown Minnesota product: you can hear
Downtread’s home-turf swagger fueling the recording sessions at Pound Sound
Studios in St. Paul, and Greg Reierson nicely wrangles the savage beast during
mastering sessions at Rare Form Mastering in Minneapolis.
One song on Stand Your Ground seems to
epitomize the collaboration: “I Told You” features a string arrangement
by the band’s good friend Joel Kosche (solo artist and lead guitarist for
Collective Soul), perfectly ensconced in an epic-scale sonic landscape.
Stand Your Ground shows Downtread’s sound
growing and deepening since the 2010 debut album 144.
The new album also benefits from a different recording method. “On our
last album,” Petrusek explains, “we recorded the way most bands do. We
laid down basic tracks, then layered on guitars, then vocals – working on the
album in its entirety. This is a really long process and it can tend to lose
momentum. On Stand Your Ground we completed one track at
a time, from start to completion. We’d get really pumped up, because we
could hear the final product of the first song before we even started work on
the second song. Each song stayed fresher and the flavors change from
song to song. It’s a lot more inspiring to do it that way and we’re going
to keep doing it that way from now on.” Guitarist Teddy Gordon echoes
these sentiments sharing, "The big difference between this album and 144 is
the cohesion. On 144 we had all the basic pieces in
place – big heavy guitar riffs and monster drums – and we were simply trying to
get it all out. On Stand Your Ground the band has
learned how to make it all click together. It’s both an ignition as well
as a refinement, and our vocabulary has grown. The same lineup has been
together for a few years, and we’ve learned how to speak a language together
better over time.”
Downtread is Brett Petrusek (Vocals / Lead Guitar), Robert
Berg (Bass / Vocals), Teddy Gordon (Guitar), Marc Paradise (Guitar), Eric
Domagall (Drums). A complete itinerary will be announced shortly.
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