Egypt Central

MyGen From the producer who brought you 30 Seconds To Mars, Staind, Atreyu, Velvet Revolver, Linkin Park Live and 10 Years comes the debut, self-titled, album, screaming from the ghetto of Memphis, EGYPT CENTRAL. Drug Addictions and rehabs, done them both. Pulled through foster care and watched our families crumble, done that. Been homeless and lived off of three dollars a day, done that. Signed a major label contract and dropped a year later, done that too. So what! This album tells the story of our lives in progress, an ever changing collage of lost love and found frustration. This is the soundtrack for the broken days of a group determined to rise above what everyone has always told them, and succeed. These are the anthems of a people who will not stand back and watch life pass them by.

From a street in the north part of Memphis, Egypt Central has been together about five years. They pride themselves on their intensely passionate lyrics about overcoming the obstacles of life and love and the ability to move you with thundering, moody, groove oriented music. Their self released debut album has sold close to 7000 units in Memphis in several months. With a remarkable first week of sales, their cd debuted as number 1 independent release in the Memphis market. In some Cats Music store locations the Egypt Central release blew down the doors outselling new releases by Coldplay and the White Stripes. The groups fame had developed rapidly from the early support of local venue New Daisy Theater owner Mike Glen and Mike Killabrew who was formerly MD at 93X-WMFS. As the power of airplay from CBS Radios commercial alternative station 93X-WMFS and PD Rob Cressmans conviction rose, so did the demand for the release. Best Buy started calling the band asking how they could carry the record. Finally, Select-O-Hits distribution jumped in ordering 200 300 at a time to supply the retail monster with units. Egypt Centrals album continued to fly off the shelves. This success has resulted largely from many nights pounding the pavement with self promotion, friendship and unshakable belief.

There is no time for a pity party. Your life is what you make of it. John Falls (front man) would be the first to tell you this having firsthand experience at it after spending his childhood as a ward of the state. A few of the members of Egypt Central (affectionately known as EC) have had to weather and overcome their fair share of hard knocks child abuse, drug addiction, emotional instability early on in life between the ages of 2 15. The five of them found a safe haven in music where they could feel the security, acceptance and stability theyd never known. A brotherhood formed from the music they wrote together to extinguish being an outsider and embrace anyone whod ever felt those fears of being left out. Music is about having a good time and expressing the crazy emotions that go on inside as a human being, whether youre the writer/creator or the listener/viber.

John lost sight of his path for a moment at fifteen when he fell into gang activity, selling drugs and rebelling against authority. Fortunately for John, good friends inspired him and encouraged him to a new way of life through music. This began the journey to piece together a band and find his success in music. In late 2002, Johns gift of persuasion convinced the strikingly handsome guitar man Heath Hindman to join him on his quest.

The two were nearing their breaking point when they heard a drummer boom from down the hall at a friends rehearsal spot. Heath knew who it was and that this was the drummer they needed. He told John to talk his magic and convince the young prodigy Blake Allison - to join their group. Blake told John that he might do it but that he only played with one bass player and that they came as a pair. Blake called his best friend and fellow musician Joey in Chicago with the proposition of leaving a different scene and trying mainstream rock. Months of private conversations between the two followed. Blake and Joey decided to join John and Heath but not without sacrifice - Blake dropped out of college and Joey moved to Memphis. Now the core of the band was finally realized.

For the next few months the group wrote and wrote and wrote, every night sweating out the new style of music, and smashing many styles into one. The foursome wanted a second guitar player - it had been an idea from the beginning. They tried out a few situations that didnt work out to their liking and moved on knowing the right person would come along someday. They recorded a demo with Nikos Lyras in Memphis. Only a few months later Andy Shane, senior director of A&R at Lava heard the demo online. He played the demo of Over and Under to his boss former Lava CEO Jason Flom. Finding the demo incredibly impressive, Jason jumped on a plane two days later to see the bands show. He offered them a record deal with Lava immediately after seeing the live performance which had only been their eighth show ever. The debut album was recorded with Josh Abraham (Velvet Revolver, Korn, Limp Bizkit) in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, once the record was finished, EC was confronted with an onslaught of troublesome experiences including an IPO situation that dissolved their major label deal ...yet they rose to beat down every conflicting situation thrown at them. Egypt Central remained everything that they stand for and overcame those unforeseen obstacles of life and hard times. They hold true to their belief of your life is what you make of it. Everything is possible. There is no time for pity.