Sainthood Reps

If someone happens to listen to or see Sainthood Reps and makes the decision to pick up an instrument, the band would consider this a mission accomplished. After all, that's how they got their start - inspired by the Long Island hardcore, punk and indie bands they grew up seeing.

Such inspiration eventually led Francesco Montesanto to create and record four demos and show them to his longtime musical companion, guitarist Derrick Sherman. Knowing that he was unrefined, Montesanto hoped to entice Sherman into joining his musical endeavor because of his experience and similar musical interests, and thought he could turn his project into something worth pursuing more seriously.

"Eventually, I decided to start writing my own songs and showed them to Derrick, hoping to coax him into starting a real project with me," says Montesanto of the earliest stages of the band. "After he obliged and took a more prominent role, we decided to take the next step and round out our project."

And in the frigid winter of 2009, Montesanto and Sherman joined by Bradley Cordaro and Jani Zubkovs, picked up their collective instruments, plugged them in, and made noise together for the first time; thus Sainthood Reps was born.

Their goal was simple. They shared many favorite bands such as Mogwai, Fugazi, Explosions in the Sky, Sunny Day Real Estate, Modest Mouse, Jesus Lizard, and Built to Spill, and wanted to form a band that was influenced by those bands in every aspect, from live performance to studio recordings and everything in between.

After just a handful of practices, they packed up their van and delved into an unseasonably warm Midwestern winter to play their debut show as a band in Detroit, kicking off a tour with All The Day Holiday. The band quickly hit the road again just three days into 2010 with Caspian, refining their sound as well as their personal relationships with one another. Another tour followed in the summer of 2010 with the Felix Culpa, along with constant short tours with Long Island friends The Sleeping, and Philadelphia friends Balance and Composure.

"A buzz started to build around our energetic live show," says Sherman. "We focus on a wall of sound from our guitars and amps; producing jagged, uneasy, sometimes harsh distortion and fuzz sounds akin to the 90's bands that we love to listen to."

But as much as they are influenced by those early 90’s post-hardcore and contemporary post-rock, they are also influenced by other artistic avenues, and much of the lyrical content of is derived from historical perspective gathered via films and books rather than personal experience. "We usually like to take our personal experiences in our lives and sort of retell them through the scope of historical events and societal problems rather than autobiographically," Montesanto explains.

As 2010 drew to a close, the band partnered with Tooth & Nail Records to begin working on their debut full-length, produced by Long Islander Mike Sapone (Brand New, Crime in Stereo, The Xcerts) and slated for release on August 9th, 2011. Look for the band back on the road this summer.

[bio courtesy of Tooth and Nail]

brand new, balance and composure, felix culpa