AMRITA

Echoing in the styles of bands such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Yes, and The Mars Volta; {AMRITA} intends to catch people's attention from all different genres of music. With their smooth intricate bass, unique display of time signatures, tempo changes and atmospheric effects the band is bound to grasp one's attention to the stage for a prolonged period of time. Affiliated with its powerful yet airy style blues vocals and native percussive textures, the band fills the air with numerous layers of rythmic music accompanied by remarkable use of all types of keyboards. Dynamically adept, Amrita is acknowledged for their capability to bewilder the crowd with their thunderous jam sessions suddenly transfigured into a soft ambience. With a highly energetic live show, the band hopes to startle those who expect it least, as well as turn a few heads in the process. {AMRITA} strives as a band with no boundaries and thus possesses the potential to display it, always evolving as time continues to carry on... Their name derived from ancient history, "Amrita" signifying a sacred beverage imparting immortality to all who drink it. For years musicians have been on an ongoing struggle to "get in where they fit in". Many have ventured away from what they know, becoming drifters of their own minds, on the search for what is truly real. Guitarist Patrick Riley [formerly of WHITE|CLAUDIA) along with Mike Del Principe (ex-drummer of The Academy Is...] teamed up with fervent bassist Matthew Robinson with the hope that through their music, they would do just that. In August 2006, they formed the progressive rock group AMRITA and in the summer of 2008, the guys mixed, engineered and produced their first debut E.P. "Innertides", a concept album taking you for a swim through the waves of life. What AMRITA did not realize, was that they just had their toes in the water. Although the sandy beach offers much tranquility, the guys knew it was not time to get comfortable. After getting rid of some bad mojo, Pat, Matt and Mike found themselves stranded on shore. Later that same year, keyboardist and jazz major Jason Kearney had answered AMRITA's S.O.S. After spending 4 years at Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, he lit up the jazz world for the group, taking them back to times of pure soul. Later in 2009, the group stumbled upon vocalist, Aaron Gruanke [formerly of Mindsight]. His first time singing with the band was nothing less than fate."Hearing Aaron with the band, I knew he was exactly what we were looking for. He's such a powerful, freelance vocalist. His potential makes the band's potential endless" says Riley. It seemed as though everything had died down, and the group was right where they wanted to be, but this was just the calm before the storm. AMRITA wanted to thematically expand their horizons. They knew they needed a whole new school of thought, so they turned off their televisions and radios to focus on real life. "It was time to tear down those religious and political walls" says Gruanke. All having been in music since they could remember, it seemed as though time was running out. [Can the flow of time be plugged? Certainly some mystics believe so. Angelos Silesius, a sixth century philosopher and poet thought the flow of time could be suspended by mental powers: Time is of your own making, it's clock tick-tocks in your head. The moment you stop thought, time too stops dead.] But how in this world would AMRITA cease time? The group found it spellbinding, the idea of quarrying into planetary alliances of the past and in the now...fusing it together to reach one's own sense of spiritual truth and belonging. In order to do this, AMRITA had to go beyond just a challenge of sound. What they needed, was to create their very own musical time machine. After 5 months of tedious writing, and with influences such as: The Mars Volta, Phish, Pink Floyd, and Radiohead, AMRITA seemed to be recovering their own soul's ancient pathways. Working together with Manny Sanchez of IV Labs Studios, they began to create their 2nd album "Outside The Paradigm". The album unhinges a treasure trove of hidden life secrets and acts as a sort of "sonic guide" to conquer life's monsters. When life hands you lemons, AMRITA gyrates them, turning them into symphonic showpieces. They let the listener know exactly what they have discovered over the years: life is not always what it seems. It's a weird odyssey with no set destination. When you think you can classify "Outside The Paradigm" to a set genre, a song will suddenly jump to a whole other end of the musical spectrum. In one instant you are crowd surfing, and within seconds you find you are dancing the Salsa. Aside from the usual group of instruments, AMRITA revels in using household items such as trash cans, paper bags and even a cheesegrater to create variant sound. It's like a perfect mix between ancient spiritual mysticism and modern science, conflicted as if certain parts are not even supposed to be there, but you know deep down they are. AMRITA's profound complexity, however, is not supposed to be an easy listen. There are unexpected breaks and sprials throughout this whole album- which is truly where the beauty of the group is unveiled. Over the years, AMRITA has surely discovered that no matter what you do or how "mad" you are, people will always have their opinion about you, and they will stop at nothing to take away the chance to defend yourself.