Capital Lights (New album July 8th!)

Jun 13 2008 3:30P
IMPACT / Shamblin Theatre
Nashville, Tennessee
Jun 21 2008 12:00P
Northwestern College Soccer Complex (RISE FEST)
Orange City, Iowa
Jun 22 2008 7:00P
Third Church Auditorium
Pella, Iowa
Jul 2 2008 8:00P
CORNERSTONE - Indie Community stage
Bushnell, Illinois
Jul 13 2008 5:15P
Auto Zone Park Faith Night 2008 (Hawk Nelson, Mark Stuart)
Memphis, Tennessee
Jul 15 2008 8:00P
The City - Salina
Salina, Kansas
Jul 19 2008 11:00A
Sonshine Festival - Stage 2
Wilmar, Minnesota
Jul 22 2008 8:00P
Redwood Christian Park
Boulder Creek, California
Jul 24 2008 5:15P
Memorial Stadium Faith Night 2008 (Hawk Nelson , Mark Stuart)
Fort Wayne, Indiana
Aug 3 2008 7:00P
Heritage Farm Park
Clermont, Iowa
Aug 15 2008 7:30P
Venue68 (w/ Pillar)
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Aug 22 2008 2:00P
Crane Fest 2008
Crane, Texas
Aug 31 2008 8:00P
LifeLight Festival
Sioux Falls, South Dakota

Capital Lights is

Brett Admire (Guitar)
Bryson Phillips (Vox)
Michael Paul Phillips(Drums)
Jonathan Williams(Guitars)
There comes a time in every band’s life when abandoning commercial expectations in favor of heartfelt musical expressions and relatable lyrics takes center stage. For the Tulsa-based pop/rock foursome Capital Lights, that realization came remarkably early in its already impressive career, following a name change and stylistic shift from members’ days in locally acclaimed screamo act afterEIGHT.
“We had a couple people leave the other band’s line-up, I stepped up from bass to singing, rewrote our material and we changed styles completely,” says front man Bryson Phillips of Capital Lights’ debut disc This Is An Outrage. “The main thing we’ve learned personally is to really focus the writing on what you like rather than trying to be like all the other bands around. When we were doing the screamo thing, we were seeing other bands and trying to be just like them. But in Capital Lights, I started writing on an acoustic guitar without trying to plug into any particular formula, just being ourselves and playing 100 percent exactly what we wanted.”
By breaking down the walls of familiar formulas and shooting straight from each player’s personal artistic compasses, the results not only resonated with a steadily expanding audience, but yielded an intense bidding war from Nashville to Seattle (with just about every city in between). Linking up with manager Jason Fowler (Red, Pillar) and joining the roster of Third Coast Artist Agency brought about additional prominence, eventually resulting in a deal with Tooth & Nail (a long time dream for the band after youthful obsessions with MXPX).
“Before we got signed, we would constantly send out new songs to A&R reps at various labels and managers, so often that we got to know the FedEX lady by name,” he offers, laughing at the sentiment of always rushing to make the day’s last drop off deadline. “We were sending songs to Aaron Sprinkle and he always responded saying he liked what he heard, but to keep him updated on any new songs. About a year ago, we wrote ‘Worth As Much As A Counterfeit Dollar’ and he responded back saying how much he loved it. Six or seven labels stared sending interest our way as well, but Tooth & Nail wound up flying us to their offices for an acoustic set in front of the staff. Two weeks later, they sent us a contract and that was without even seeing us play an official live show!”
Outside of being drawn in by the band’s vibrant blend of Relient K and Jimmy Eat World, there was an underlying originality to Capital Light’s peppy surge of power chords and relevant writing subjects. Those ideas were soon fleshed out in a Seattle studio stationed within the illustrious Capitol Hill neighborhood (hence its slightly tweaked moniker) alongside producer extraordinaire Aaron Sprinkle (Pedro the Lion, Anberlin, The Almost).
“Going into the studio was different than we expected, mostly because we’d never worked with a producer before,” admits Bryson. “We were expecting it to be a really stressful thing with him on top of us all the time, but we went in really prepared and he was seriously the most laid back and coolest guy. He made a lot of notes on our bridges and choruses and helped cut them down in length, but he was much more a friend who made it very comfortable to talk and hang out with.”
The resulting dozen tracks throughout This Is An Outrage range from pure bred alternative pop to assertive modern rock, wrapped around a topical plane that spans the palette of meaningful, whimsical and satirical. The scalding “Kick It Off” is sure to be a fierce concert classic and the aforementioned “Worth As Much As a Counterfeit Dollar” possesses one of the most contagious choruses in recent memory. “Night of Your Life Is When You Die” is an anthem for anyone who embraces the straight-edge scene, suggesting the party hearty mentality isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. The energy escalating “Return” is amongst the disc’s most inspirational, while the historically slanted “Frank Morris” provides a fictional account of the famed Alcatraz prison escape.
“We’re really big proponents of writing about the experiences we deal with on a day to day basis,” Bryson verifies of that varied songwriting swath. “My vocals are very fast paced in the way they present what we have to say and we’re hoping people take away something positive from this project because there’s already enough negativity out there.”
Thus far fans old and new alike have been flocking to the material, thanks to extensive touring, including headlining dates and time supporting Hawk Nelson and Run Kid Run. No matter with the format, Capital Lights’ fan base continues to expand like lightening, as evidenced by feverish MySpace activity, downloads and CD sales at shows.
“Even though we’re a brand new band on our debut album, we’ve had the chance to meet so many amazing new listeners all across America and we’re hoping the word keeps on spreading,” sums up Bryson. “We’ve always dreamt of going out on the road and we absolutely love it so far. From here on out, the goal is just to stay steady on the road, get these songs in front of people and hopefully continue to write songs that mean something to us and those who check them out. This is something we want to turn into a long term career for as long as we possibly can, and of course, we’re here to have fun and bring as many people as we can along for the ride.”

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