Member Since: 10/12/2005
Band Website: myspace.com/betweenthelights
Band Members: Three guys from the Canton, Ohio area, Scotty McGregor, Jon Mathewson and Ted Karam, who love to play music ... music that enables them to explore and search for new ways to express themselves.
Influences: Between The Lights "Bands come and bands go. When you've heard one, you've heard them all, right? But every once and a while, something special comes along. It's like when you are reading a book and you get wrapped up in the words, the story seems to actually be happening. Or after a great film, when you are walking out and you have to remind yourself that it was just a movie, and you are not the hero who just got the girl.Perhaps you've been at concert when the music was so good, the mood was just right, and it was like your feet were lifted. Jimi Hendrix called it "the experience." It's a non-chemical high--like the way you felt just after saying "I do," your lips still wet with the greatest kiss of your life. Its hard to explain…but I think you know what I mean."Between the Lights began like many bands: a couple former members of another band call up a guy they know who plays to ask if he might be interested in putting something together. The guy agrees and they struggle in rehearsals somewhere: jamming, creating, resurrecting old tunes, licks, maybe even complete songs--attempting to create a sound. Refusing to believe that there is nothing new under the sun, they push their perceived musical limitations, they learn the nuances of each other's musical tastes.Between the Lights is out there, winning the hearts of fans every time a live audience witnesses their spontaneous creations of melody, rhythms and lyrical jamming. Scotty McGregor, Jon Mathewson and Ted Karam comprise Between The Lights and each member is as integral as they are indispensable to what the BTL sound is all about.If you need history, BTL has plenty of that. Ted, Scott and Jon all wear their influences on their sleeve.Ted cut his musical teeth on the likes of Phil Keaggy, Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Johnson, Albert King and Carlos Santana just to name a few.A great fan of 70's progressive rock, Scotty has a keen respect for drummers like jazz great Gene Krupa, studio master Steve Gadd and live innovators like Mitch Mitchell or John Sferra … and the list goes on. Scott has played in a great variety of musical situations, but he never truly felt free until he met up with Jon to form Mr. Willy Cromelia's Flaming Snake Oil in '97. Bored with simply playing the beat, Scott constantly tries to reinvent himself.A few years earlier, Ted and Scott had crossed paths at several blues jams at local bars in the Canton, Ohio area...Meanwhile. Jon was introduced to some bands like U2, Daniel Amos and The Talking Heads, then began a musical journey with his brother, searching for his own voice. Playing his way through high school, he found himself seeking more great talent while at college in Chicago. Returning home in'95, then meeting up with Scott two years later, he had expanded his talents on the bass and picked up guitar as well...He also "finds the tear in the smile" and calls the listener to contemplate the meaning of the words. Meanwhile, he keeps a fretless bass moving and a-grooving, forging together with Scott's serendipitous rhythms as Ted takes off on a lead from which he may or may not return. They like to think they influence each other as well ... NAAAAAH ;-)All together, they weave together a tableau of musical comedy, lyrical tragedy, and creative abandon, pausing occasionally to lay down a "quicky" pop tune. What emerges is music which is at once completely original, yet may remind you of something reminiscent of the past that has remained alive. Your ears enjoy while your heart is lifted to another place … a place somewhere between daylight and the pale moonrise … somewhere "Between The Lights."Fans have made comparisons of BTL to any and sometimes all of their influences, from their energetic improvisations to their pop melodies tinged with harmonies and mirth, to outright blues based rock-n-roll white knuckle jamming - BTL cannot be placed into one single musical category. Between The Lights is among your favorite bands, weather you know it yet or not.I too found myself comparing them to most of their influences...especially when I saw them play at P23 in Massillon, Ohio. What impressed me the most is how down to earth these guys are...You ask them, "how do you classify yourselves?" and all they can tell you is that they really can't classify themselves because they play such an array of styles and musical melodies that they really do like to leave it up to their fans because then the fans themselves can form their own opinions about BTL.So, if you are in the mood for a night of musical melodies that you can form your own views on instead of having the same old every day packaged music, then you have come to the right place.Thanks again Between The Lights for a new sound with energy and fire and a not so normal kind of night!You Guys Rock!!!
Sounds Like: Sounds like Between The Lights - we don’t even know what we’ll do yet!
Type of Label: None