| E.TOWN CONCRETE |
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| INFO |
YEAR FORMED: 1995
HOMETOWN: Elizabeth, New Jersey
MEMBERS:
Anthony Martini (vocals),
DeLux (guitar),
Eric DeNault (bass),
Teddy P. (drums)
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| BIOGRAPHY |
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“One thing I want to stress,” says E. Town Concrete’s lead singer and Anthony Martini. “We’re not rap-core. To me, that whole genre should be renamed rap-corny. I don’t want to be pigeon-holed and lumped together with a heard of sub-par nu-metal bands. We’re simply a hard rock band who incorporates various musical styles to express the influence of the urban culture that we grew up in.”
A single listen to E. Town Concrete’s Razor and Tie debut The Renaissance tells you that Martini knows what he’s talking about. E. Town – guitarist DeLux, bassist Eric DeNault, drummer Teddy P. and Martini on vocals – has created a heavy, hard hitting album that combines metallic fury with experimental and unexpected touches – from the dark metal attack of “Metroid,” the acoustic Latin guitar introduction to the anthemic “Let’s Go,” the dub-wise coda dropped onto the end of “Door Mats” and the prog rock, Zep meets Hendrix opening to “In The Heart of the Wolves.”
While other bands were sitting home or shopping demos in the hopes of landing that magical label deal, E. Town Concrete was taking a more hands on approach towards success. E. Town, named after the slang nickname for Elizabeth, New Jersey, where the band grew up, earned their stripes in the unforgiving New York/ New Jersey hardcore scene. During their seven-year history, playing some 200 dates a year, the kids have made E. Town Concrete a force to be reckoned with. New York City’s 92.3 K-Rock gives them regular spins, on Seton Hall University’s WSOU Pirate Radio, probably the most popular college station in America, E. Town is the second most requested band, CMJ ranked them as one of the Top Five Loud Rocks Acts in 1998, they’ve outsold Metallica and Pearl Jam at many major alternative music retailers and rocked Japan in September 2002 on a nearly sold out tour. Not too bad for a group that started out as a side project.
“The four of us were always in different bands together,” continues Martini. “The last one was a bit more serious, with me on guitar and Ted on bass. One day a friend left a set of drums at Teddy’s and we were jamming and wrote some songs - me singing and Ted on drums. We called DeLux and made a demo tape and it got more serious. We added Eric, quit our old band, and we’ve been at it ever since. That was when we were 15.”
E. Town Concrete’s music has always been about the struggle to turn a world of negativity into something positive. While their lyrics address life’s adversities like domestic violence, poverty and child abuse, their underlying message is about taking the harsh reality of one’s past and using it to fuel your dream of a better future.
“Elizabeth is the second biggest city in New Jersey,” Martini explains. “It’s industrial. It’s a container port city full of oil refineries, sitting right on the turnpike. It’s a filthy, shitty looking town, with lead in the water and dirty air. I write about my experiences in life, and that happens to be what average people can relate to. Nowadays kids are more screwed up than ever, so when I sing about my experiences and things that I’ve been through, they can relate.”
“It’s the same with the music, which is why we don’t consider ourselves a rap metal band. Hip-hop is all around us, you can’t escape it, so it shows up in the music but it’s the same with Latin music. There’s a big Latino community in Elizabeth, and DeLux is Columbian, so that comes in too, as well as a bit of reggae or the classic rock I heard growing up.”
E. Town Concrete has already released two indie label efforts, Time 2 Shine, recorded live in a marathon 10 hour session [“The tunes were all road tested, but the long session was done out of necessity,” Martini says. “We could only afford to book one day in the studio.”] and Second Coming on which they experimented with piano and acoustic guitar, as well as the F$uck the World EP and tracks on various compilations. But the band sees The Renaissance as the best thing they’ve done. So far. “The Renaissance is more mature then anything we’ve ever done,” Martini concludes. “Working with (producer) Scrap 60 (H2O, Ill Nino, Cradle of Filth) gave us the time to focus on the details and get everything nice and clear.”
The band has built a reputation that has earned them the respect and admiration of both fans and peers. Bands like Poison the Well (emo/metal posterboys whose new album has been named one of the most anticipated releases of 2003 by Alternative Press), Shai Hulud (hardcore/screamo veterans), Hatebreed (the heir apparents to the Slayer/Pantera throne), and Candira (jazz-metal/math-rock – touted by Rolling Stone as one of the most important metal bands) have all stepped up with their nods of approval, including old school iconic metal band Anthrax, whose drummer Charlie Benante heard E. Town blasting from the studio next door during a recording session, and was so impressed he asked Anthony to guest on their new album. These might seem like unlikely supporters of rap-core, but E. Town’s music transcends barriers and continues to inspire people from all musical backgrounds and tastes.
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