Miles From Exile

      If Slayer, Iron Maiden, and Metallica had a baby in 2010, that baby would be Miles From Exile. The Chicago progressive thrash metal band came together after years of talking about forming a band. After several mishaps, delays, and member relocation, the band was ready to conquer the metal scene by late 2010.
      The band takes elements from classic metal bands and adds a little modern spin to it. "We're progressive, we have thrashy parts, we have epic parts, we have melodic parts, we have singing, we have screaming, we have complex riffs, we have simple riffs. We're all over the place, and yet, it just feels so cohesive and right to us. We're not necessarily doing things that no other bands has done, but we feel that everything combined is what few other bands are doing." says the band.
      The current band line-up consists of D'andre Payne (vocals), Justin Lesko (guitar/vocals), Tony Notardonato (guitar/vocals), Mike Ludwig (bass), and Edirin Ibru (drums)

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      Miles From Exile lists a wide range of influences from classic metal bands like Slayer and Iron Maiden to contemporary bands like Trivium, Protest The Hero and As I Lay Dying. The band even lists a few non-musical influences such as literature, mathematics and even astronomy.
      "The most important lesson we have learned is that, in Chicago, you can book a show every weekend because there are so many bars that offer live music, but you must space out your shows in the city or your draw dwindles to nothing." Another important thing for the band is to always try and outdo themselves at ever show. Whether it be their sound or stage presence, maybe most importantly, their writing. "We're always challenging ourselves with each new song, and we're not going to write one just to add another song to our set, it's gotta make the cut by our standards."

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      Miles From Exile, their self-title EP is something the band is very proud of. "We recorded it with Nick Nativo at The Nook Recording Studio, and we really loved the whole process. We contacted an artist named Chris Noble in California to do our artwork and he was really cool about it. We just gave him the tracks and said "listen and draw" and that's exactly what he did. We feel like the whole package turned out really well. It's funny because our 5-song EP is about as long as a lot of LPs, coming in at around 33 minutes."
      The EP's heavy crisp sound has been recieved well online and the band feels like it's a great representation of the band and their capabilities. Of course, unsurprisingly, they will try to outdo themselves during their sophmore attempt.
      To support the release, the band has the EP streaming on Facebook and Myspace, and even have a limited number of hard copies for sale at some Chicago music stores. "We are also trying to get in touch with as many people who, like you, are supportive of local music or at least open minded enough to give our tracks a listen and review." You can get the EP on iTunes, Amazon, or Bandcamp!

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      The band is focusing on spreading out through the Midwest, hoping to book shows throughout Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, and southern Illinois in the next few months. "The next step is to make Miles From Exile national and set up tours."
      Although the band enjoys playing shows, they are somewhat selective when booking. "if you flood the market with shows, then people feel no urgency to watch you play ?What you can expect from our shows is all of us just losing our mind. We love being on stage, and it shows. We have such a great band chemistry, we don't need to "try" to do anything, it just all comes out. We make fun of each other, have some laughs, and do everything we can to involve the crowd. It's all over the place, and we just have a great time....and we sweat a lot."

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      The Summer Slaughter Tour is full of bands like The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, Darkest Hour, Six Feet Under, Dying Fetus, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Oceano, As Blood Runs Black, Within the Ruins, and several other bands. "We're just stoked to be a part of it, and we can't wait to show Milwaukee what we're capable of. We were trying to book in Milwaukee with some locals, and then this came up, and we were like, yeah, that'll work."