Some pics from the Port Neches show courtesy of PQLana MusicPics
(Gathering before we begin)
(Eating the mic and Ward’s hair flying)
(Ian jamming)
(Luke jacked)
(Dennis getting into it)
(All that hair haha)
(Deer in the headlights)
(Acoustic jam)
(Get low)
We had a great time and would love to play for Port Neches again.
Ward Rogers
As the lead guitarist of Oh, Infamous City, the gears in Ward’s head are always turning. He’s always thinking progressively to enhance our musical style. When he’s not working, doing tech support or class, he’s either chilling hard or moving to the next step musically with Skype sessions with our rhythm guitarist Ian. We all have this goofy side to us and Ward is definitely right their with us. One of the more notable things you can see before a show is the ongoing quoting of Metalocalypse between Ward and Chris. On stage, its all focus. ^I mean look at that face. You can see it! Ward is passionate about what he does and it shows.
Ward’s influences are as follows
A Plea for Purging
System of a down
Rage Against the Machine
Chevelle
Project 86
Blind Side
He Is Legend
Demon Hunter
War of Ages
As I Lay Dying
August Burns Red
Becoming the Archetype
Guitarists that Ward feels most influence him
Paul Gilbert
Zack Wilde
Kirk Hammett
Time to get to know our members a little better. These segments will let you into our interests and what influences us musically.
Luke Donahue: ”a redneck who spends all of his free time hacking every piece of technology he owns”
Possilby the goofiest guy we know, Luke’s energy is seen in his performance. He’s quick to learn and makes effective use of critique when it comes to our music. When he’s not scouring Reddit, watching WeezyWaiter on Youtube, or looking into the newest phone, OS, or other advance in technology, he diving deeper into his faith, reading into theology and foundation. Being around Luke, you get to know his personality right off. Luke’s an easy going guy always willing to contribute to conversation. And just a funny guy.
Drumming influences:
Norma Jean
Showbread
MyChildren MyBride
Poetic influences:
The Chariot
David Bazan
Performance influences:
Sleeping Giant
The Chariot
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster
Audrey Assad
Dynamic influences:
The Digital Age
Gungor
Haunted (by MaranathaTX)
This song was written within a night. I had been looking for inspiration to write something acoustic for the band and so what do you do when you need inspiration? You draw from your sources. I needed something real and sorrowful. I search the internet until I ran into Trent Reznor’s “Right Where It Belongs” I had never heard it until then. It was haunting. Then I began to write. This song captures hopelessness and a cry for help. Imagine kids in and around an abandoned victorian style house. Their not doing much except milling about. One sits on a old bed with other children nearby and begins to look out a broken window. Meanwhile some dark presence scours the house and most of the children go into hiding. While this child looks out he sees a dead grass field leading up a hill. There are children there as well. As the sun sets a shadow creeps in from the horizon, over the hill and to the house. As the song ends the child witnesses the other children in the field swallowed up by the dark.
Catching up on Dexter. Love the creepy soundtrack
We have some news. Songs are in the process. I met with Ian today after class and went over writing lyrics for a new untitled song. Its catchy and has a good beat. I can imagine a crowd getting into it. Some good gang chants here and their. Solid. Meanwhile I’m trying to figure out a way to incorporate our good friends from Embrace the Distance into our stuff. We’re pretty close with they guys (Tyler, Matt Ryan and Reagan). We helped them get their first show. I’ve sat in on many of their practices. Whenever I can make it to their shows they play a song called Long Drive Home in which I have guest vocals, and I’ve taught Reagan and Ryan how to scream and given them pointers along the way. So like I said we’re all real close and support each other.
Check them out @EmbraceDistance
By the way, the credit for screaming all goes to Melissa Cross for her Zen of Screaming DVD’s.
This weekend I just completely a new acoustic song for our set. It’s called Tempest and its another dark, depressing song. But those are the good ones, right? Tempest plays on my acoustic roots. I’ve played guitar since my grandparents bought me my Ibanez acoustic when I was 19. Since then I taught myself and picked up a Takamine from a friend along the way.
Tempest tuning: DADFAD
Tempest is a lot like our other acoustic song Haunted. Tempest has hope in it though, unlike Haunted, which is a cry for help in a twisted world. Trying to figure out how the band can incorporate into this one. Haunted was awesome to put together. A couple of chords for foundation, bass to support, Ward laid down a creepy effect to add to the motif of the entire song, Luke’s crescendo/decrescendo of percussion. Still need to work with Ian a bit on it but it’s solid. If you haven’t heard it yet there is a rough track video on our old MaranathaTX Youtube page. I’ll post the video here later tonight.
Tempest, on the other hand, will need some work if we’re all going to get in on it. I’m plucking strings 75% of the time, crescendo/decrescendo. The chorus and bridge are a gradual bridge. Imagine a storm (technically what the song is about). Starts with a light drizzle of rain, the storm is far away at this point, but its getting closer as the song progresses. The rain picks up. Full blown, the bottom drops out what the chorus hits, wind howls, bridge builds, then the crack of the thunder, the rumble, the storm is over you, another low rumble, the storm is beginning to settle, and the song hits the calm state of things with the third verse and outro.
There you have it.
More to come as we keep working. Thanks for sticking with us and listening to our music. You guys don’t know how much you mean to us.
Stay Sweet,
CJay
PS: Jon Gumm, sick, and we have some shows we’re trying to get lined up within the next couple months
It was an interesting day. 12 hours with several breaks in between during the recording session, and midway we hit the road to pick up Matt Fearno. I had only heard Celladora’s work through iPhone speakers, but honestly I couldn’t wait for Matt to hit up his feature part. The guy was seriously appreciative of the opportunity we had given him. We got to Great Depths Recording’s studio around 12 to 12:30. Little house out in Crosby an hour out from Katy. Aaron’s studio was being built in his garage. We just couldn’t be more excited to be getting the single done. Aaron had given us an extra day to record and we got it done in one.
There we were. Aaron at the helm. Ward started things off. Aaron got out his keyboad and Ward played the piano intro he had wrote for the beginning of the song. Before, when we were trying to write instrumental for the song I’d suggested a dark melodic intro. Ward made it real. Strings were added for more effect. Things were taking shape.
Ian laid down a rhythm scratch track. Luke was unable to join us so Aaron laid down the drum part with the help of the scratch track. Our good friend Tyler Hulbert of Embrace the Distance was there taking in every riff and witnessing every piece of recording first hand. Aaron pushed us to give it our all and let us know straight when something needed to be redone. He’s good like that. Gotta lot of respect for the man. We ordered pizza, nommed hard. Chicken bacon ranch O_o
4 or 5 o’clock rolls around and Ian’s contacting Matt. He just got outta school. Time to pick him up. Ward and Tyler stayed with Aaron while he continued to construct the drum part. Ian and I hit the road out of Crosby back to Katy. It was getting dark now and the traffic was getting heavier. With every slow down, sudden stop, and flash brake lightshow we were getting a little concerned with how long this would take. But Ian’s playlist kept us motivated. All I remember is King for a Day by Pierce the Veil (feat. Kellin Quinn) and King of Amarillo by Issues blaring. Two of my favorite songs. One hour turned to two. Finally we hit the exit into Katy and got to Matt’s place.
Here he came. I’d never seen him before and while we had been driving Ian had been telling me a bit about him. Been in a band for awhile. Ian’s previous band, Divisions, had played with Celladora. The guy’s 15. I couldn’t wait to hear his chords rage. We talked music on the way back, faith, and life in general. Getting there was half the battle. That one hour drive turned to two again and soon we were getting a call from Ward. Good news though. Aaron finished the drum track, added some sick breakdown for Matt’s feature part and Ward had just finished his lead and did the bass part. We were pretty stoked but anxious to get back.
Hitting the studio we came in to hear some pretty familiar licks and beats. Matt and Aaron talked with each other a bit. Aaron joked around with Matt and told him to warm up. Matt went to a corner and with one breath he let this Dragonborn, Fus Ro Dah, make the children run, all anarchy crushed the nation, behemoth of a scream. I whipped my head around and could only think, this guys only 15 and he has that kind of power. That’s amaz-zah-zing. Aaron in turn let out his owe goliath of a scream which I was equally impressed with. It was Ian’s turn. Nix the scratch track and hit the rhythm section with tremendous focus. Ian sat with Aaron hitting every riff. Aaron stopping sometimes to get a redo. Aaron told Matt to get ready because he would be next once the little tweaks were done to the bass and lead once Ian finished.
Soon enough Ian was in the clear. Ward came forward to tweak the lead, bass got done. Now it was show time for Matt. After contacting our other good friend Ryan White earlier, also from Embrace the Distance, he showed up with two of his friends just as Aaron was setting up a makeshift booth for vocals to be recorded. We said our greetings, let Ryan listen to what we had so far, then Aaron hit the lights and asked most everyone to step out while Matt recorded. I stayed inside to run him through the rhythm for each line as he hit it. A couple takes here and there. Matt was getting it. All the while Aaron gave out suggestions for what to do next. Hit it high, now low, lets layer this, hold this out. It was going great. At one point, mid feature, Matt made a 5-layer burrito of a scream. It was beatiful, soaring, high, mid, low, plunging. He cleared the feature and I was up next.
I had my inhibitions stirring. Reminders of past studio recordings came back. In the past I had too much anticipation. I struggled to just let my screams flow, let the lyrics mesh into the song. Small story: once while recording for our EP I decided to hit a high and see how long I could hold it. Ward was ready to record and gave me the intro. I took a deep breath, began to scream, and soon realized I was getting light headed and I passed out on his floor for a few seconds. Listening to the recording was hilarious though because you could hear Ward jumping out of his chair and running over to me saying, “Oh crap!!!”
I had to let all that go. I was hear to do one thing. Let all the imagery, all the thought, the creative process, the emotion, all of it, i had to make the lyrics i wrote a reality. I wrote the lyrics over a year ago. One night fueled by the desire to erase all that was ugly in me. One moment to capture the essense of what we as practicing Christians deal with. Our own inhibitions, our doubts, our fears, our failures needed to be called out. If I had the chance to bring all the ugliness out, all the transgression, what would I say? How would I react? If Satan himself turned up, how would I remind him of the devastating fate that lie ahead of him, other than spitting in his face at first sight.
Suddenly I was free. Took me a few takes to get warmed up but I hit it head on. 26 years of pain, regret, failure, malice, heartbreak, anger, and rage spewed from my mouth into a poetical discharge I’d kept inside too long. All the scars I’d inflicted on myself stood only as reminders of how far I’ve come now. No longer were they a painful memory. This was our time. This was our battle cry. Line by line was dished out. I was nearing the end. Soon I was done and I felt good.
Aaron set up for the gang chant. It was cool because 5 bands are represented in that one chant. Aaron puts his own house out there for bands coming into the area to stay at. So a couple members came in to check things out once I’d finished my recording (I can’t remember the guys band name though). When it was time for the gang chant I looked at the remaining guy who stayed in the studio and got him to join us in the chant. Oh, Infamous City, Embrace the Distance, Celladora, Concepts, and the dude for the band staying at Aaron’s place. It was sweet.
We finished up by layering my vocals. Aaron hit record and I filled in where I thought would be good. We were done after that. We packed up, gave a big thank you to Aaron for producing us, Matt, Tyler, Ward and I piled into Ian’s SUV and headed back to Katy. It was a great night and we all look forward to doing it again.
Stay Sweet,
CJay
When I took this picture I had only one thought in mind. How can I make it look as dark and dejected as possible to express how I feel right now? (Photoshop is one of my best friends) When it came to writing the lyrics for You Plague Me I thought, how can I portray the inner struggle I’ve had to endure?
The nature of the song…. when I think about it there’s this clawing at my brain. Something long standing that torments my everyday being. A year ago it happened. Like most times I struggle, I’d had enough. I had to write. I had to dig deep into the pit I thrown myself in and pull my sanity out. That night was the clearest I had thought in awhile. Lucid and free my thoughts flowed to type and word my feelings. I was sick. Sick of what I was becoming, and if I didn’t do something soon I would crumbled apart.
So I wrote, and I wrote fast. I poured out everything I could think initially to say to myself. If there was a copy of myself sitting across from me, yet I knew it contained everything unjust and full of malice, what would I say to it? How would I react? So my fingers typed with ferocity. In ten to fifteen minutes a had a lot written. I didn’t know how to condense it just yet but I knew, this would be our next song. I showed the lyrics to Tyler, the first person I saw that night, and then to Ward, and Luke and Dennis to soon follow. I filled them all in on the meaning and they loved it. Later when Ian joined the group I typed up a clear meaning and description of what the song would portray and when I emailed him, he sent it back to Ward because they skype back and forth to do writing. They were both in agreement that I had essentially wrote everything to make a music video.
The EP we recorded last fall, that was our praise, our love, and our loyalty to the God who loves us all. THIS, this would be our next step. A step in direction of vulnerability. To show we are not on this earth and in this life to go it alone. To show we have our inhibitions, our doubts, our fears, our stumbling blocks, and we cannot be perfect. We as Christians do not have it easy as we would like to pretend we do. We have our faults and shortcomings. Our life isn’t a warm center wrapped in a pretty package for us to admire. But that our only key and preserved sense of freedom comes from one thing alone, and that’s a sacrifice that was made.
This song is the outpouring of most of my life. Its tremendously personal to me. The lyrics shed light on the struggles I’ve faced and how, with my faith, I’ve overcome. But its just a glimpse. A moment in time.
More songs are in the works and with them will come more lyrics about what we cannot hide within us. We have been broken and hurt just like everyone else. This is our outlet to share with you all.
- CJay
We are Oh, Infamous City. We hail from mainly Central Texas (Belton (CJay), Cedar Park (Dennis), Jonestown (Luke), Lago Vista(Ward).) And our newest member Ian is from Katy, Tx. We started out as Blood of Commrades. From what I know we played all over Central Texas like we do today. When I joined we changed our name to Maranatha meaning “Our Lord has come” or “Our Lord will come.” Later after nearly a year we started looking for a rhythm guitarist and that’s when God placed Ian along the path. This is my second band but officially its my first and I love it. We have several things in mind.
1. To proclaim the LOVE of Christ with everything we do.
2. To make music that can stir the very soul.
3. To be real and genuine with everyone we come in contact with.
On stage we want to give it our all. A couple of us get super hyped up and probably won’t be on the stage very long once the music starts. Off stage, we’re a pretty chill bunch. When we’re not on stage we’re listening to who is. Mingling with other show goers and conversing with other band members about what keeps them going. Outside of the show we’re regular guys. We go to school, go to our jobs, and write when we can.
We want to get to know you. What your influences are, what motivates you, what you’re passionate about, and what you want to do with the life you have. We’d like to make this site just another outlet for you all to get to know us and for us to talk about the age we live in. So feel free, tell us what you think of our music, if you like it or if it sucks wet shoe strings on a rainy day. We are here for you guys, not to make it out there alone.
We just put out our newest single entitled You Plague Me on our Facebook, on Youtube, and now officially on iTunes. Get a taste.
Stay Sweet,
CJay
