Experiments in Low Fidelity

    When getting a band together, singer/songwriter Edward Raney turned to old demo tapes for a fitting band name. "I have a habit of never naming songs, unless I absolutely have to. So I would simply label each tape 'experiments in low fidelity part 1' or whatever number it was." Says Raney. Experiments in Low Fidelity was born.
    After starting the band, the name took on a more literal meaning based on the definitions of the individual words. "I'm a generally a very, very honest, and loyal person. Sorta brutally honest, and stupidly loyal, even when I shouldn't be. Which tends to get me into alot of trouble. So I've been trying to be a bit more realistic, keeping more of my opinions to myself, and assessing whether loyalty to a person/thing, is really justified, or intelligent." Says Raney.

    In the spring of 2010, with constant urging from friends, Edward decided to put together a band. Putting together a band wasn't easy. Edward recruited his friend Chris on keyboard, but they had alot of trouble finding a 2nd guitarist and a drummer. "I already had alot of the Experiments in Low Fidelity songs, completely written, and finalized. So there wasn't really much wiggle room for people to inject their own style into things. I had a very distinct idea of how things should be. Which made finding a second guitarist nearly impossible." Says Raney.
    Justin Plantz contacted the guys about playing drums and they were blown away. "He'd had a week or so to listen to MP3s of the Demo's I had at that point, to familiarize himself with our stuff a bit. When we met up with him, we were both totally blown away. I mean, it wasn't perfect. But for the first time ever playing with us, he did amazingly well. So we gave him the job that day."

    Unfortunately, the honeymoon period didn't last long. Chris and Justin didn't get along for long and it escalated into a violent argument which gave the band no choice but to let Chris go. "The weeks leading up to argument, he'd missed several practices, due to going out of town to see other bands shows. An to us, if you care more about seeing another band play, than you do about practicing with the band you are actually in. Then you probably shouldn't be in that band."
    The band went through several bassists before meeting Dylan Lasley. "He came to every show, was always excited to see us play. So eventually we started getting him to help out with random stuff (load up, setup, selling merch, etc). When an opening for the position came up, we told him if he learned the songs, we'd let him play bass. He was dedicated to the band, before he was in the band. We probably should given him a chance long before we did."

    The band is influenced more by movies and television than music. "I try to think of a song, like a scene in a movie. If this song was the soundtrack, to a part of my life, what part would it be? What scene would it be? Thats how I determine what the overall feel should be. Its like trying to paint a picture with music. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Most times, it starts one place, and then takes on a life of its own while I'm writing and I just let it go where I think its pointing me."
    When it comes to lyrics, sometimes Edward will go out of his way to find inspiration. "I draw all my influence, simply from life. I'm not sure I could write about something I feel no connection to, and why would I want to do that?
I let the path of my life influence the tone of anything I create, cause thats sorta the point of making music, or creating art. At times, I've gone so far as intentionally putting myself in rather unsavory situations, or around unsavory people (which will eventually turn into an unsavory situation), simply so I have some sort of struggle, or strife, to play off of. Something that actually makes me HAVE TO write. Making music, is just about the most important thing in my life, and sort of how I define myself as a person. So I've always felt that suffering anything, is worth it, if I can get a good song out of it."

    The band strives to be different and unique. Often times, Edward has gone several months at a time without listening to music as to avoid any accidental influence. "The only way to really describe the way we sound would be to say, we're complexly simple. We're not so stripped down, as to sound like talentless a**holes. But never so complex as to sound like a big, busy, wall of sh*t either. We just do whatever the song needs, to be its best. Nothing more, nothing less."

    A lot of the band's music is negative. "Theres not a whole lot of hope, or positivity in our songs. I believe the best music/art comes from the worst times in life. Because, you only grow as a person, during the rough spots. Sure at the time its happening, you'll hate every miserable second of it. But once that time has passed, and you have a chance to look back on it. There's a reason people's memories of the bad times, are always more vivid than their memories of the good times. The bad times force you to think and reflect. The good times, just make you smile."

    "Really over all, the only "message" we have for anyone is simply "You're not alone." There might be different messages, or theme's, depending on the song. But over all, we're just trying to tell who ever is listening, "You're not alone." To me, thats really the whole point of making music in any sort of format that employs words. To give people a chance to see that someone else out there, understands how it feels."
    The band released their 052811 EP on, surprise, May 28th, 2011. "Each song is its own entity. There are moments of longing, lustful sadness, followed by spastic angry outbursts. We covered a pretty broad range of emotions. But overall, each song is its own thing. If anything, I'd say the overall sound and mood is just a bit dark, questioning, and hopeless at points. Sure, there's a glimmer of hope here and there, it'd be a bit boring if there wasn't. But overall, each song is just a moment in time. Theres no happy ending, because the end hasn't come yet." The band is currently working on their debut album. The album will include a few songs from the EP and lots of new material.

    Depending on the mood, the band can play a reserved, laid back set or they could play a chaotic, energized one. "It all depends on our moods, whats going on in life for each of us, and how energized the crowd is. But regardless, we're always in top form when performing. We put every ounce of ourselves into each performance, whether playing for 2 people, or a whole bunch of people. We have an insanely rigorous practice regime, so unless something is going terribly wrong, we always give the best performance we are capable of."
    The band is very considerate of the fans in the audience. "To us, the whole goal of performing, is to make sure that every single person in the crowd, whether they've heard us before or not, will fall in love with the band, and not simply go home, and completely forget about us. Performing isn't just about what we do on stage, its about what we do the entire time we are at a venue. Whether that be thanking the club owner for giving us the opportunity to play, making sure we stay to watch every band on the bill, or sitting and drinking a beer with some guy that just loves the band."

    Apart from the album, the band has a few things in store in the coming months. " we're currently in the process of planning a summer tour for 2012. Hoping to hit as many major cities as we are capable of doing. Expand the fan base further, sell more albums, Spread this disease as far as we can, try to get some real radio play, etc, etc, etc. All the things any serious band wants to do." Be sure to check the band out on Facebook!